The Editorial Board

USA TODAY

Let's stipulate up front that there is no proof — despite claims by President Donald Trump and his defenders — that Joe Biden's son Hunter engaged in any legal wrongdoing while serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma Holdings.

Nor is there any credence to Trump's charge that Joe Biden, as vice president, pushed for the firing of the nation's chief prosecutor to quash an investigation of Burisma and its owner.

And it's bunk to suggest that the Bidens' action are comparable with Trump temporarily withholding nearly $400 million in military aid this year as he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on his Democratic rival, an act that triggered the House impeachment inquiry.

All that said, however, two questions still stand: What was Hunter Biden thinking when he associated himself, and his family's good name, with business dealings in a country so steeped in corruption? And why didn't his dad, then vice president, more forcefully advise him against it?

It’s untrue, as Trump asserted without evidence on Wednesday, that “Biden and his son are stone-cold crooked.” But the record does suggest poor judgment and imprudence by Hunter, who accepted a position on the Burisma board of directors in 2014, despite having no obvious qualifications for an energy post other than a gold-plated last name.

To be sure, past U.S. leaders have struggled with errant or embarrassing relatives; examples include President Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy, and a son of President George H.W. Bush, Neil, who both tried to cash in on their connections.

Relatives of influential politicians often get investment and employment opportunities unavailable to other mortals. Hunter Biden appears to have followed in that tradition when, at age 44, he accepted the Burisma director position, earning up to $50,000 a month.

At the time, Burisma and its owner were under intense scrutiny. Great Britain was investigating the company for money laundering. And prosecutors would later launch corruption probes.

A business associate of Hunter's, Chris Heinz, stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry, urged Hunter against joining Burisma out of concern about reports of corruption, a Heinz spokesman told The Washington Post. Hunter Biden told The Post that he joined the board "to help reform Burisma's practices." It's unclear what he achieved.

The potential for conflicts was rife. Prosecutors might avoid probing Burisma dealings out of fear of offending the vice president. Ukrainian oligarch and Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky might claim high-level U.S. influence — even if not true — by virtue of having a Biden on the board.

Joe Biden said he has never spoken to his son about the directorship. Hunter Biden told the New Yorker that his father simply said, "I hope you know what you are doing." Hunter, who has a history of financial problems and substance abuse, also said that he now regrets taking the board position: "I would never have been able to predict that Donald Trump would have picked me out as the tip of the spear against" Joe Biden.

Perhaps not. But he might well have predicted that his father would one day run for president again, and that there would be some explaining to do about Ukraine. The day has arrived, and it has provided Trump, himself an expert on nepotistic enrichment, a thread on which to hang his smear campaign.

Hunter Biden's lawyer and Joe Biden's presidential campaign declined to provide an opposing view to this editorial. Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the campaign, said in a statement that the former vice president “acted at all times in a manner consistent with well-established executive branch ethics standards. He carried out the Obama-Biden administration’s policies without regard to any interests other than the public’s and neither discussed this with his son nor was involved in any way with his son’s private business pursuits.”

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