Former President Donald Trump sparred with NBC host Kristen Welker after she claimed there is “no evidence” connecting Joe Biden to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
On Sunday, NBC’s “Meet the Press” aired parts of an interview that Welker and Trump had pre-taped, as part of Welker’s introduction as the show’s new host. The two got into a debate after Welker said there was “no evidence” that Joe Biden had “any link” to his son’s business dealings, according to a transcript of the full interview.
“Well, of course, there’s no evidence that the president has any link to his son’s business dealings. Let me ask you, though,” Welker said.
“Well, I don’t,” Trump interrupted, with a puzzled expression on his face. “He called in. I mean, he called in to all these meetings. He was calling in on the meetings. He was put on speakerphone and — every single day … And what about the fact that he got rid of the prosecutor for a billion dollars?”
“Mr. President, the witness who testified though, said that he never heard any discussion of business when President Biden was put on the phone,” Welker claimed.
“He said, ‘You don’t get rid of this prosecutor, I’m not giving $1 billion,’” Trump continued.
“That was looked into, as well. And, as you know, there was never any wrongdoing,” Welker responded.
“If I ever said that,” Trump stated.
“Let’s move on,” Welker insisted.
“Quid pro quo,” Trump replied, before Welker shifted the conversation to what Trump’s second term would look like.
Trump was speaking in reference to testimony from Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer, who told the House Oversight Committee in July that Joe Biden spoke with his son’s business partners on more than 20 separate occasions. Archer specifically recalled a spring 2014 dinner Joe Biden had with Russian oligarch Elena Baturina and a spring 2015 dinner with Vadim Pozharskyi, an executive at Ukrainian energy firm Burisma.
During his time on Burisma’s board, Hunter Biden was being paid more than $80,000 a month when his father met Pozharskyi, according to bank records released in August by the House Oversight Committee.
Archer also described how the Biden family “brand” protected Burisma from scrutiny and kept the firm in business. During an August interview, Archer told independent journalist Tucker Carlson that former Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin was considered a “threat” to Burisma’s business and recalled a raid Shokin orchestrated on Burisma founder Mykola Zlochvesky’s property.
In September 2016, while Joe Biden was vice president under the Obama administration, he bragged about how he had successfully pressured Ukraine into firing Shokin by threatening to withhold a $1 billion loan.
“You remember last year I was authorized to say we’d do the second tranche of a billion dollars. And he didn’t fire his chief prosecutor. And because I have the confidence of the president, I was there, and I said: I’m not signing it. Until you fire him, we’re not signing, man. Get it straight. We’re not doing it,” Biden said to the Council on Foreign Relations.
While being confronted by Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy, Biden claimed that Archer’s testimony was “not true” and the White House has said Joe Biden was “not in business” with his son.
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