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Pete Buttigieg said in an interview with AP that he "would not have wanted to see" his son serve on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while he was fighting corruption in the country, but stressed that there has been no wrongdoing uncovered with respect to Joe or Hunter Biden's activities in Ukraine.
Why it matters: Republicans have used Hunter Biden's position on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma to rebut impeachment charges against President Trump, arguing that he had a legitimate reason to ask Ukraine to investigate the Bidens. Buttigieg called this a distraction from Trump's "spectacular misconduct," but said his administration would do everything it could to prevent "even the appearance" of a conflict of interest.
"I would not have wanted to see that happen and at the same time, again, I think this is being used to divert attention from what's really at stake in the impeachment process. There's been no allegation, let alone finding of any kind of wrongdoing ... I just think it's the wrong conversation to be having right now though given the spectacular misconduct that we have already seen and facts that are not in dispute, where the only argument to be had is whether it rises to the level of removal."
The big picture: Joe Biden has repeatedly said he does not know what Hunter actually did in Ukraine, but that he trusts his son — and even lashed out at one voter in Iowa for making unsubstantiated allegations that the Bidens were selling access to President Obama.
- Biden told "Axios on HBO" that he will ban his family from making money overseas if he wins, but faulted President Trump's family's conflicts of interest — not Hunter’s work — for the need for a formal guardrail.
Go deeper:
- Buttigieg calls Biden's Iraq War vote "worst foreign policy decision of my lifetime"
- "You're a damn liar": Biden rebukes voter over allegations about son's Ukraine work
- Fact check: What Joe and Hunter Biden actually did in Ukraine