Career US Diplomat Tells Congress Warning Of Hunter Biden's Ukraine Work Ignored - Reports

An American diplomat has told lawmakers he was ignored when raising concerns over work that former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden did for a Ukrainian energy company in 2015, local media reported on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th October, 2019) An American diplomat has told lawmakers he was ignored when raising concerns over work that former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden did for a Ukrainian energy company in 2015, local media reported on Friday.

George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, testified on Tuesday that he worried Hunter Biden's position at the firm Burisma Holdings would complicate efforts by US diplomats to convey to Ukrainian officials the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest, the Washington Post reported, citing three unnamed sources.

When Kent raised the issue with Biden's office, he was told the then-vice president did not have the "bandwidth" to deal with the issue, as his other son, Beau, was battling cancer, the newspaper said.

During his testimony this week, Kent did not name the Biden staffer he said he communicated with, according to the report.

Kent's testimony raises concerns among some Democrats that House efforts to impeach President Donald Trump threaten to weaken former Joe Biden's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination by keeping public focus on the Bidens.

The House impeachment probe is based on Trump's request that a foreign government, in this case Ukraine, investigate a political rival.