In a 10-page opening assertion obtained by The New York Occasions, James Biden additionally painted a portrait of himself as a dutiful although typically troubled brother who had sacrificed to help his household after it was rocked by tragedy, at the same time as he denied allegations that he sought to leverage entry to his brother to counterpoint himself.
“I’ve had a 50-year profession in quite a lot of enterprise ventures,” James Biden, 74, mentioned in his opening assertion throughout a closed-door interview in a Home workplace constructing. “Joe Biden has by no means had any involvement or any direct or oblique monetary curiosity in these actions. None.”
The ready testimony gave a fuller accounting of James Biden as a pivotal determine within the president’s life, one who like his nephew Hunter has clearly benefited financially from the cache and connections that include his politically prestigious household identify, however who additionally sees himself as an anchor for members of the family who’ve fallen on onerous instances.
Hunter Biden has referred to James Biden as “my greatest buddy on the planet,” who took him in throughout a few of the worst moments of his drug dependancy. His uncle informed lawmakers that he, too, as soon as struggled with alcoholism, although he has been sober for greater than 40 years.
On Wednesday, James Biden additionally turned one in all Republicans’ central allegations towards the president on its head, saying that funds he made to Joe Biden that G.O.P. lawmakers have alleged have been a strategy to launder cash from China have been in actual fact repayments of loans that the elder Mr. Biden prolonged him when he was low on money.