#RNC 2020: Ex-Florida AG Pam Bondi slams Joe and Hunter Biden as ‘corrupt’

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Former Florida AG Pam Bondi speaks during the RNC tonight.
REUTERS

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi tore into Hunter Biden during her speech Tuesday on the second night of the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Bondi, a longtime ally of President Trump, launched into a prolonged attack of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son as corrupt, citing his overseas business ties and his former role on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.

“A corrupt Ukrainian oligarch put Hunter on the board of his gas company even though he had no experience in Ukraine, or in the energy sector. None. Yet he was paid millions to do nothing.

“He only had one qualification that mattered. He was the son of the man in charge of distributing US aid to Ukraine,” Bondi charged.

She also brought up a much-scrutinized trip on Air Force Two that Hunter took with his dad, then the vice president, in 2013, when he was working to form a Chinese private equity fund.

“Joe Biden flew to China on Air Force Two with Hunter along for the ride,” Bondi said. “In Beijing, Hunter didn’t just go sightseeing, he had meetings with his Chinese bank partners.”

Bondi also portrayed the elder Biden as corrupt, stating: “For Joe Biden, it’s been the land of opportunism, not opportunity.”

The former veep, she charged, “has been writing the textbook on abuse of power for 40 years.”

Bondi was one of Trump’s defense attorneys this year during his Senate impeachment trial. She delivered a vigorous defense of the president’s request that Ukraine investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

She sought to turn the tables on Democrats and steel Republican nerves by arguing that Burisma was widely believed to be corrupt by US and foreign officials.

Bondi said that Hunter’s $83,333 monthly salary on the Burisma board at a minimum created a conflict of interest for Joe, who was VP at the time and led the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.

She also pointed out that Hunter had no relevant experience in the energy industry during Senate arguments in January.

The trial acquitted Trump in mostly party-line votes, and some Republican senators said after Bondi’s presentation that Biden’s conduct warrants review.