Donald Trump Jr.., son of President Donald Trump, said he’d release his tax returns if Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, does the same. Trump Jr. also challenged Biden’s son to a debate on “who profited” off of their father’s public service.
“We can go full transparency, we show everything, and we can talk about all of the places where I am supposedly grifting but Hunter Biden isn’t,” he told Axios Chief Executive Jim VandeHei in a recent interview.
“You will release your tax returns if he’d debate you?” VandeHei asked.
“I’d do it. If we do it both,” Trump Jr. replied.
Joe Biden has emerged as the more likely Democratic presidential candidate after winning a majority of the Super Tuesday primaries. The dealings of his son will be a “big part” of the attacks that are coming his way, Trump Jr. said.
He highlighted Hunter Biden’s hundreds of thousands of dollars collected for sitting on the board of a Ukrainian gas company that has been investigated for corruption. He landed the position shortly after Joe Biden was put in charge of massive grants and loan guarantees to the eastern European country.
Trump Jr. contrasted it with the decision of the Trump Organization to not pursue new international business deals after Trump won the presidency.
VandeHei pointed out that Trump Jr. gave political speeches and wrote a book about political correctness that was purchased in bulk by several Republican groups.
“I’ve done paid speeches for over a decade,” he responded, noting he’s stopped giving the “international ones.”
Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, runs the Trump Organization with his brother Eric. His financials could provide an insight into those of Trump’s, which have long been coveted by his opponents.
The Biden campaign didn’t appear to take the challenge seriously.
“It is hard to believe anything a Trump says on tax returns when Donald Sr. has lied for years about releasing his,” Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo told Axios.
Trump’s opponents have long demanded to see his financials, but he has refused, saying his company has been continually under audit and his lawyers have advised him against releasing the papers until the audit is over. More recently, he’s argued that people no longer care about his tax returns.
Aside from his son, Biden can expect attacks along several other vectors, Trump Jr. said. One would be Biden’s numerous verbal gaffes.
“Joe Biden doesn’t know the state he’s in 50 percent of the time,” he said, arguing that if Trump demonstrated similar behavior, television would be full of claims that he has “lost his mind” and that “he’s in the later stages of dementia and a combination of Alzheimer’s.”
Another attack would target Biden’s record as a career politician.
“You have, sort of, just a guy that’s telling us he’s going to do all these things. He’s gonna do ’em,” Trump Jr. said. “But he’s been in politics for 50 years. Why hasn’t he done them then?”
