Tipsheet

Oh, Geez: Hunter Biden Sat on the Amtrak Board And His One Qualification Is Pathetic

We know that Hunter Biden sat on the board for Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, despite having no natural gas experience. He was being paid $50,000 a month for his "contributions" to the board (whatever those may be) while his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, was handling affairs with Ukraine on behalf of the Obama administration.

We know that MBNA, a Delaware-based banking company, hired Hunter straight out of law school. Then-Sen. Biden had received campaign contributions from the company during previous elections and was even working on a bill MBNA backed. 

Now, it turns out that Hunter received a position on Amtrak's board of directors in 2006. His qualification? He rode trains...a lot.

According to the Washington Free Beaconthe revelation came about when Sen. Tom Carpenter (D-DE) offered the sole nomination speech for Hunter in front of the Senate Commerce Committee.

"Hunter will be an excellent addition to the Amtrak Board. He is a graduate of Georgetown and Yale. He has served as senior vice president at MBNA America and as executive director of e-commerce policy coordination at the U.S. Department of Commerce. And, five years ago, he founded a law firm here in D.C. that now represents over 100 clients, mostly nonprofit organizations and educational institutions," Carpenter said.

Here's where Hunter's real qualification come in. 

"But more significantly, Hunter has spent a lot of time on Amtrak trains," Carpenter said. "Like his father, Rep. Mike Castle and myself, Hunter Biden has lived in Delaware while using Amtrak to commute to his job in Washington, D.C. You learn a lot about what works and what could work better at Amtrak by riding those trains. You also see the huge economic benefit that a region receives from having a strong passenger rail corridor – something that should be available in more of the count."

Hunter admitted it was highly unlikely that he would have received positions on any board of directors, including Burisma, if his last name wasn't Biden.

“I don’t know. I don’t know, probably not,” he said. “You know, I don’t think there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden.”