WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden on Tuesday batted away questions about his son Hunter’s sweetheart foreign business deals by saying the focus should be on President Trump’s corruption.

“This is about Trump’s corruption. That is what we should be focused on,” Mr. Biden said at a Democratic primary debate at Otterbein University.

Hunter Biden’s lucrative business deals while his father was vice president has become a question dogging the elder Mr. Biden’s campaign.

“My son’s statement speaks for itself,” said Mr. Biden, referring to his son’s TV interview earlier in the day. “What I think is so important is that we speak of how important it is to remove this man from office.”

Hunter Biden said he regretted causing headaches for his father’s campaign, but that he did nothing unethical or illegal.

Hunter Biden’s $600,000-a-year job on the board of a Ukraine natural gas company is also at the center of the House Democrats impeachment inquiry. Mr. Trump is accused of abusing his office when he asked Ukraine’s president to investigate the Bidens.

Mr. Biden said the president was allowing foreign interference in U.S. politics, a concern he said dated back to George Washington.

Mr. Biden also said the Ukraine episode shows that Mr. Trump is afraid to face him in the general election.

“He doesn’t want me to be the candidate because he knows that if I get the nomination I will beat him like a drum,” he said.

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