Walter Shaub, who served as the Obama White House's director of the Office of Government Ethics, slammed Hunter Biden's art deals considering he is being offered large sums of money despite it being his first experience selling his personal collection.
The White House has said Hunter Biden will not know who will be purchasing his art, despite it now being reported he will still meet with prospective buyers at two art shows. Even though Hunter has not been involved in the art scene before, some of his paintings have reportedly been valued between $75,000 and $500,000.
"They’ve put an art dealer in charge of keeping a secret, and really what he’s doing is keeping a secret from the public because eventually Hunter Biden or people in the White House will learn who it’s going to be. In fact, Hunter Biden, we now know, is going to be at two art showings where he will meet the universe of bidders on his art," Shaub said."So, they left that detail out when they told us he had no way of knowing who was buying his art."
"So there’s no intrinsic value to the art. It’s whatever anybody says they want to pay for it. The problem is, they’re buying it from the President’s son at prices that you would never see for a first-time art sale. There is a local artist collective in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., where if you go, really well-established artists who have been doing this for years and have quite a following, are selling for 2,000 to $5,000. He’s not even at that level because this is his first sale," he added.
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Shaub said Hunter should not be doing this at all because "it sure looks like profiting off the presidency. But if they couldn’t talk him out of doing it, there is something that’s within their control." He also noted if Hunter had used a pen name instead of his real name, he probably would not be getting the same level of offers he is getting now.
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