Walter Shaub, Barack Obama’s ethics chief, blasted Hunter Biden for selling his art at “obviously inflated prices” to anonymous buyers, acknowledging the obvious: that it looks like a scheme to sell influence in the Biden White House.
Shaub served as the director of the Office of Government Ethics under Obama, and he says that the whole situation with Hunter Biden’s art has a “shameful and grifty feeling to it.”
“The notion of a president’s son capitalizing on that relationship by selling art at obviously inflated prices and keeping the public in the dark about who’s funneling money to him has a shameful and grifty feel to it,” Shaub told Fox News on Monday.
Shaub said the anonymity of the prospective buyers is particularly problematic.
“Just as hotel charges and real estate purchases created a risk of unknown parties funneling money to the Trump family for potentially unsavory purposes, Hunter Biden’s grotesquely inflated art prices create a similar risk of influence-seekers funneling money to the Biden family,” Shaub said.
Shaub believes that Hunter Biden’s art dealer, Georges Berges, “should disclose the identity of the purchasers” so the public can see if the buyers try to “gain access to [the] government.”
The “public should not have to take it on blind faith that government officials will behave” regardless if “any attempt to curry favor or buy influence is likely to succeed,” Shaub said.
“But I also think it’s ridiculous that Hunter Biden is even going forward with this sale as a first-time artist,” Shaub continued. “He can’t possibly think anyone is paying him based on the quality of the art. This smells like an attempt to cash in on a family connection to the White House.”
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Despite the obvious potential corruption, the media has shown no interest in the potential influence-buying scheme. Washingtonian magazine reported on the big money Hunter’s artwork is expected to fetch, and the report didn’t even suggest something was potentially amiss. Insider ran a puff piece gushing over Hunter’s journey with art. A search of various left-leaning networks found virtually no coverage of the forthcoming Hunter Biden art exhibit, which, as far as I’m concerned, suggests they know how shady it is… and when an ethics chief from the Obama administration (hardly a bastion of ethical behavior) is calling this out as shady, that says a lot.
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