No-go Joe should send Hunter to Ukraine
Prez says ‘they’ won’t let him tour war-torn country
Joe Biden ought to send son Hunter Biden to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Since “they” at the White House — whoever “they” are — will not allow the president to make the visit to the war-torn capital of Ukraine, sending Hunter might be the next best thing.
After all, nobody else close to the president is going to Kyiv to meet Zelenskyy. Not Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and not Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser. And nobody in their right mind is going to send Vice President Kamala Harris.
So, sending Hunter makes sense. He has the president’s ear, or hearing aid, and Biden considers him one of the smartest men around.
Such a mission would also give the unemployed Hunter something to do besides lolling around his $20,000 a month lavish home in Malibu. He is awaiting action by a Delaware U.S. grand jury looking into overseas financial dealings.
Hunter presumably knows something about Ukraine. He was on the payroll of Burisma, the corrupt Ukrainian energy company, while his father was vice president.
Although he did not attend any meetings as a member of the board of directors, he was paid $83,333 a month from 2014 to 2017, according to the New York Post. That sum was cut in half in 2017 after Joe Biden left the vice president’s office.
One would think that Hunter would welcome such an assignment. It would give him the opportunity to pay Ukraine back for the generosity it showered upon him when his father was vice president.
It would also allow him to refurbish his public image, or what’s left of it. He could be pictured dressed in combat fatigues, wearing a helmet and body armor. Maybe federal authorities would give him back his .38 revolver to carry around. This is the revolver that was recovered from a dumpster in Delaware where his girlfriend at the time disposed of it.
Sending his son to Kyiv might make up for Biden getting upstaged by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who, in a surprise visit to Kyiv last week, made news around the world.
Not only did Johnson confer with Zelenskyy and offer more military aid, but he was pictured touring the damaged capital with Zelenskyy at his side.
It was boffo television. But more importantly it raised the spirits of the Ukrainian people. It showed that the UK and NATO were in support of the Ukrainians.
It could have — or should have — been Biden, the leader of the free world, in those photos, not Johnson.
Biden could have gone to Kyiv during his visit to Poland when he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw in late March.
When Kyiv came up, Biden said, “Quite frankly part of my disappointment is that I can’t see it firsthand, like I have other places. They will not let me.”
Who would not let him go to Kyiv? Who are the “they” that tell Biden what he can or cannot do?
As the Ukrainian battle with Russia drags on, Joe Biden may be the only western or NATO leader who has not visited Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy.
Despite Kyiv being under Russian missile attack, the prime ministers of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia traveled to the city March 15 to meet with Zelenskyy and show their support.
Last week Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv after visiting the town of Bucha, where retreating Russian soldiers had executed hundreds of innocent civilians.
She said to Zelenskyy, “I am here with you in Kyiv to tell you that Europe is on your side. Your fight is our fight.”
Since “they” won’t let Joe go, he ought to send Hunter. Hunter could even drop in on Burisma.