President Biden and his White House aides have frequently maintained that the president has never discussed business dealings with his son, Hunter, despite evidence emerging suggesting otherwise.
The House Ways and Means Committee recently released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who claimed Justice Department, FBI and IRS officials interfered with the investigation into Hunter Biden and alleged that decisions were "influenced by politics."
One of the whistleblowers, IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, said that Hunter Biden invoked his father to pressure a Chinese business partner while discussing deals. Shapley oversaw the IRS probe into the president's son and said the agency obtained a July 2017 WhatsApp message from Hunter to Harvest Fund Management CEO Henry Zhao showing Hunter alleging he was with his father to pressure Zhao to satisfy a pledge.
"I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," Hunter wrote in the WhatsApp message to Zhao, according to the documents. "Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight," Hunter wrote.
"And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction," Hunter said.
The whistleblower testimony came to light almost a year after reports surfaced on an alleged voicemail from President Biden to Hunter in which he purportedly discussed his son's international business dealings.
"Hey pal, it's Dad. It's 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you have a chance, give me a call. Nothing urgent—I just wanted to talk with you," Biden is heard saying in a voicemail from 2018. "I thought the article released online, it's going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you're clear."
The article Biden was referring to in the voicemail was published by the New York Times in December 2018 and documented a private meeting between the chairman of a now-defunct Chinese energy company, CEFC, and Hunter Biden at a Miami hotel in May 2017.
President Biden and his White House communication staff, meanwhile, have continually denied that he ever discussed Hunter's business dealings.
Below is a timeline of the denials:
"First of all, I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their business, period," Biden said in August 2019.
"And what I will do is the same thing we did in our administration. There will be an absolute wall between the personal and private and the government," Biden continued. "There wasn't any hint of scandal at all when we were there. It was the same kind of strict, strict rules. That's why I never talk with my son or my brother or anyone else, even distant family about their business interest, period."
"I've never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings," Biden told Fox News' Peter Doocy in September 2019.
During a September 2020 presidential debate with then-President Trump, Biden repeatedly said, "None of that is true" when Trump invoked several foreign transactions regarding Hunter's international business dealings. Biden further said it was "totally discredited."
"Does the president still maintain that he never spoke with his son about his business dealings? And given this reporting on Eric Schwerin, does he also say that he has never spoken to his son's business partners about his son's business dealings?" a reporter asked then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki in April 2022.
"He maintains his same statements that he's made in the past," Psaki responded. "I would say, no, you're referring to records that were released more than 10 years ago. I really don't have more detail or information on them. I'd note that there was a gap when the records were not released, but I don't have more information about visits from more than 10 years ago."
"It's not an unreasonable question to ask if United States was involved - as this message seems to suggest in some sort coercive conversation about business dealings with his son - if he wasn't, then maybe you should tell us," a reporter said after the WhatsApp messages surfaced.
"I just answered this question by telling you my colleagues at the White House counsel have dealt with this, and I would refer you to them," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
At another recent White House briefing a reporter asked, "Does this not undermine the president's claim during the 2020 campaign and the reaffirmations of that claim by his two press secretaries since then that he never once discussed his son's overseas business dealings with him?"
"No, and I'm not going to comment further on this," the White House spokesperson responded. "Let me save you some breath if you're going to ask about this: I am not going to address this issue from this podium," he said before storming out of the press briefing.
This week, Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich asked President Biden if he lied about "never speaking to Hunter about his business dealings."
"No," Biden responded before continuing to walk away.
The Justice Department announced that Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a deal expected to keep him out of prison.
The president's son also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement concerning a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
