The former ethics chief for the Obama administration lashed out at Hunter Biden and the White House for going forward with a plan for the presidentâs son to sell artwork for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars during his upcoming show in New York.
Walter Shaub, the former head of the Office of Government Ethics, has previously taken on Hunter Bidenâs paintings, noting they might become a way for bribes to be funneled to the Biden family.
There is at least the chance that anonymous buyers of President Joe Bidenâs sonâs art could lead to accusations of malfeasance, Shaub has argued.
In an interview on Law & Crimeâs âObjectionsâ podcast on Wednesday, Shaub again attacked the amateur painter for profiting off of his name â and potentially that of his father.
âI just think thatâs absolutely appalling,â Shaub said in reference to reporting that Hunter Bidenâs pairings might snag up to $500,000 per piece.
The presidentâs son has reportedly prepared 15 pieces that will go on sale at art shows from the George Bergès Gallery.
âNow, thatâs a criticism of Hunter Biden, and heâs a sympathetic character, who we can feel bad for on many levels,â Shaub said. âBut some of his problems are of his own making, in that he has always built his career around being Joe Bidenâs son.â
Shaub said with his new career in the arts, Hunter Biden is right back at profiting from the family name.
âIf he were a patriot â if he cared about this country â he would not want to tarnish his fatherâs reputation that way,â he said.
âNow we canât fault him for not being a patriot. We canât fault him for not caring enough about his fatherâs legacy to avoid this,â Shaub added.
âThatâs a personal failing and he doesnât technically owe us anything because heâs a citizen and not a government official, but then the White House crossed the line and they got involved in this deal and the art seller was theoretically always planning to keep the names secret, but the White House intervened to ask him to keep the names secret.â
âThere is simply no way an artist who has never even juried into a community center art fair is going to suddenly show up in New York selling art for half a million a pop,â Shaub went on. âLetâs talk about the magnitude of this. ⌠Thatâs $6.5 million going to the presidentâs son for being the presidentâs son, not for being an artist, and I just think thatâs absolutely appalling.â
The former ethics chief also had words for those who are critical of his demand for accountability and transparency with regard to the Bidens.
âWhen people think Iâm blowing the Hunter Biden thing out of proportion, what theyâre missing is that this is all part of a larger concern,â he said. âAnd it isnât really about Hunter Biden. Itâs about the failure to understand that we need an ethical renaissance in government, or weâre going to find ourselves in an even worse place than we did for the last four years.â
Shaub has been vocally critical of Hunter Biden in recent months.
âWe have no way of monitoring whether people are buying access to the White House,â he told The Washington Post in July.
According to the White House, there is no concern that buyers might be purchasing influence and not art because Hunter Biden will not be provided with the identities of those who will bid for his work.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said during her July 22 daily media briefing that the administration has no concerns.
âWouldnât it be more transparent to just release the names of the buyers so that everyone would know who purchased this art and how much they paid?â a reporter asked.
âWell, we donât â we wonât know who the buyers are; Hunter Biden wonât know who the buyers are. So, I think the origin, I think, of this line of questioning, which is understandable, is about whether this would provide a situation for undue influence,â she said. âBut we wonât know who they are, so thereâs no scenario where they could provide influence.â
Psaki said Hunter Biden, as a private citizen, should be able to pursue his âpassions.â
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
