(Headline USA) White House chief of staff Ron Klain once solicited Hunter Biden for cash, according to Fox News.
Klain reached out to the president’s son in 2012 to ask him for help in raising $20,000 for the Vice President’s Residence Foundation, a nonprofit organization that preserves and furnishes the vice president’s official residence in Washington, D.C. He specifically asked Hunter Biden to keep the request “low key,” since it would make for “bad PR.”
“The tax lawyers for the VP Residence Foundation have concluded that since the Cheney folks last raised money in 2007 and not 2008, we actually have to have some incoming funds before the end of this fiscal year (i.e., before 9/30/12 – next week) to remain eligible to be a ‘public charity,'” Klain said in an email to Hunter.
“It’s not much – we need to raise a total of $20,000 – so I’m hitting up a few very close friends on a very confidential basis to write checks of $2,000 each,” Klain continued.
“We need to keep this low low key, because raising money for the Residence now is bad PR – but it has to be done, so I’m trying to just collect the 10 checks of $2,000, get it done in a week, and then, we can do an event for the Residence Foundation after the election.”
Hunter Biden then forwarded Klain’s email to one of his longtime business partners, Eric Schwerin, who asked Hunter Biden whether Kalin would “take a corporate check from Owasco,” referring to Hunter Biden’s law firm.
It is unclear whether Hunter Biden used Owasco’s funds to donate to the foundation. But a tax form from 2012 shows the foundation did end up receiving $20,500 in donations that year.
Klain recently defended Hunter Biden, who is under federal investigation for alleged tax fraud and money laundering, arguing that the Biden White House is confident Hunter Biden did not commit any crime.
“The president is confident that his family did the right thing,” Klain claimed.
“But again, I just want to be really clear — these are actions by Hunter and his [Joe Biden’s] brother. They’re private matters,” he said. “They don’t involve the president. And they certainly are something that no one at the White House is involved in.”
