CNN's Anderson Cooper got right to the point when he had the chance to question former Vice President Joe Biden at Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate on Ukraine.
"If it's not okay for a president's family to be involved in foreign businesses, why was it okay for your son when you were vice president?" Cooper asked Biden.
"Look, my son did nothing wrong," Biden said. "I did nothing wrong. I carried out the policy of the United States government in rooting out corruption in Ukraine. That's what we should be focusing on."
His son's statement on ABC News "speaks for itself," Biden added.
The former VP strayed a bit, before somehow finding a way to invoke the first president of the United States. George Washington, Biden said, worried about foreign interference in our elections.
The current president, Biden noted, is guilty of this on three occasions.
"The president and his thugs have proven they are flat lying," Biden said, adding we have to focus on "Trump's corruption."
"He knows if I get the nomination, I will beat him like a drum."
But Cooper persisted, because during Hunter's ABC interview he had admitted wrongdoing.
"I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having to do with Ukraine," Biden maintained, including when Hunter was the attorney general of Delaware. He added that he's "proud" of what his son had to say.
"There was no conflict of interest."
Yet, Hunter himself admitted he and his dad had a "brief exchange" about his Ukraine dealings.
WATCH TO THE END.
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 15, 2019
In the same breath, Hunter Biden says, “I didn't have any discussions with my father before or after I joined the board as it related to it, OTHER THAN THAT BRIEF EXCHANGE THAT WE HAD.”
Can’t have it both ways.
Joe Biden lied. pic.twitter.com/sI1BtUqcgf
A whistleblower complaint against President Trump accused him of quid pro quo after asking Ukrainian President Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son on their ties to Ukraine. Hunter sat on the board of a Ukrainian gas company that was under investigation for corruption. Biden, vice president at the time, reportedly tried to get the investigator fired.
Yet Trump got the worse end of the bargain, because the Democrats have used it to launch an impeachment inquiry.