Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) slammed Hunter Biden’s behavior on Sunday — while simultaneously belittling GOP inquiries into the first family’s business dealings as a “whopper of whataboutism.”
The Democratic lawmaker conceded in an interview on Fox News that testimony from Hunter’s former business partner Devon Archer to Congress last week was “unflattering,” but also said it had no bearing on President Biden.
“As I have said repeatedly, if Hunter Biden committed crimes he should be held accountable for them,” Auchincloss said on “Fox News Sunday.”
“What we saw with the Archer testimony was a very unflattering portrait of Hunter Biden’s judgment and business dealings, but no material involvement from Joe Biden himself,” he added. “It is smoke, it is smoke, it is smoke Republicans are trying to gin up and yet no fire.”
Archer, who co-founded the investment and advisory firm Rosemont Seneca Partners with Hunter and Christopher Heinz in 2009, delivered three hours of closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee on July 31.
He later publicly opened up about his history with Hunter to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“The brand of Biden, you know, adds a lot of power when your dad is vice president,” Archer said, adding that Hunter “was the guy that was the expert in knowing the guy.”
“In the rear view, it’s an abuse of soft power,” Archer said.
Archer also recounted roughly 20 instances in which Hunter put his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden on speakerphone during business meetings.
His father’s small talk was limited to niceties, and strayed away from business discussions, Archer said.
Auchincloss, meanwhile, needled Republicans over former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles.
“They’re desperately trying to redirect American attention away from the most important important indictment in American history,” he claimed about the GOP.
“This obsession I would say on Hunter Biden is really just a whopper of whataboutism because the Republicans are trying to deflect to diminish to defend Donald Trump from the grave crime of conspiracy against the Constitution of the United States,” he added.
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