Hunter Biden, son of former President Joe Biden, has finally admitted that joining the board of a Ukrainian gas company was a colossal misstep.
During a revealing podcast on "The Shawn Ryan Show," Hunter expressed regret over his 2014 decision to join Burisma, acknowledging the political firestorm it ignited for his family and the broader implications for public trust, as Fox News reports.
For American taxpayers, this saga isn’t just a family drama—it’s a glaring reminder of how political connections can muddy the waters of foreign policy, potentially costing us diplomatic credibility and hard-earned dollars in international aid to Ukraine. The perception of impropriety tied to Hunter’s role has fueled endless investigations, racking up legal expenses that ultimately burden the public purse. From a conservative vantage point, every stone must be turned to ensure no favoritism or corruption taints our governance.
Back in April 2014, Hunter Biden took a seat on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company, at a time when his father, Joe Biden, was vice president and overseeing U.S.-Ukraine relations for the Obama administration.
While on the board, Hunter reportedly linked Burisma with Blue Star Strategies, a consulting firm, to tackle corruption charges in Ukraine—a move that raised eyebrows given the overlap with his father’s diplomatic portfolio.
A 2020 report by Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin didn’t mince words, stating that Obama administration officials saw Hunter’s position as “problematic” and a hindrance to effective Ukraine policy execution.
Fast forward to more recent years, and the Burisma story took a darker turn with accusations from Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant and dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, who falsely claimed Burisma executives paid both Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each around 2015.
Prosecutors later revealed Smirnov’s bias against Joe Biden during his 2020 presidential run, casting doubt on his credibility, and he was arrested on charges of making false statements to the FBI.
Smirnov’s fabrications didn’t stop there—he was eventually sentenced to six years in federal prison for concocting a tale of $10 million in bribes to the Bidens, following an investigation by Special Counsel David Weiss.
Weiss’s probe didn’t just stop with Smirnov; it led to indictments against Hunter Biden himself on unrelated tax and gun charges, keeping the family under intense scrutiny.
In a striking moment on the podcast, Hunter admitted, “Was it a mistake to go on the board? Yeah, it was absolutely a mistake — not because of anything that I did that I am embarrassed about or in any way whatsoever feel conflicted about as it relates to what I did for Burisma, but because of the political position that it put us all in.”
Let’s unpack that—Hunter’s regret seems less about his actions and more about the optics, which conservatives might argue is a convenient sidestep when the public still demands full transparency on Burisma dealings.
Hunter also pointed fingers at Smirnov’s lies, saying, “The person who said that Joe Biden took a bribe to protect Burisma is sitting in a jail cell. Sitting in a jail cell for lying to the FBI.”
Yet, as Hunter himself noted, questions linger about Burisma, and for many on the right, a jailed informant doesn’t close the book—it just sharpens the call for deeper investigation into whether any undue influence was peddled.
Adding fuel to the fire, President Joe Biden issued a sweeping pardon for Hunter before sentencing on those tax and gun charges, despite earlier promises to avoid such intervention—a move that, from a conservative lens, smells of privilege and only deepens distrust in elite accountability.
