Ron Klain, currently White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden, reportedly tried to “low key” solicit money from Hunter Biden in 2012 amid an effort to raise money for the Vice President’s Residence Foundation (VPRF), according to Fox News Digital.
At the time, Klain was chairman of the VPRF, having left then-Vice President Joe Biden’s side as chief of staff in 2011, Fox News Digital reported. Klain, according to emails published by Fox News Digital, told Hunter Biden that he was “hitting up a few very close friends on a very confidential basis to write checks of $2,000 each,” noting that the VPRF had “to raise a total of $20,000.”
“We need to keep this low low key, because raising money for the Residence now is bad PR – but it has to be done, so I’m trying to just collect the 10 checks of $2,000, get it done in a week, and then, we can do an event for the Residence Foundation after the election,” Klain wrote to Hunter Biden, according to Fox News Digital.
“Is this ok?” Klain continued. “If so, send your check (payable to the Vice President’s Residence Foundation) to: [address redacted].”
Klain’s email, which noted that they’d hold an “event for the Resident Foundation after the election” and that the request would be “bad PR” if it became public that funds were being raised “now,” came during an election year.
WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 13: U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden (R), joined by Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain (L), speaks during a meeting regarding Ebola at the Eisenhower Executive office building November 13, 2014 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The current White House chief of staff also noted that the reason the VPRF needed to raise funds was because its lawyers “concluded that … the Cheney folks last raised money in 2007 and not 2008,” suggesting blame was being put on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s people over when they allegedly raised funds.
Hunter Biden reportedly forwarded Klain’s email to Eric Schwerin, his business partner, according to Fox News Digital. Schwerin, according to the emails, said the two could discuss the request as well as “some other bills.”
“I assume you think you should do this?” Schwerin wrote according to the emails published by Fox News Digital. “I wonder if they would take a corporate check from Owasco?”
Schwerin reportedly emailed Hunter Biden again a few days later noting he and Klain had spoken, and that they were waiting to see if the VPRF could accept a check from what appeared to be Owasco PC, Hunter Biden’s law firm.
The emails obtained by Fox News Digital do not note whether Hunter Biden ultimately used his law firm to donate the money requested by Klain. It’s also unclear whether Hunter Biden asked other people for money in an effort to help Klain raise the $20,000 needed.
US President-elect Joe Biden (R) embraces his son Hunter Biden (L) on stage after delivering remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7, 2020. (Photo by Andrew Harnik / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The VPRF is a non-profit that “assists in preserving and furnishing the official residence of the Vice President of the United States,” according to Charity Navigator. In 2012, its tax form noted that “funds raised in both of these years have been exclusively through public sources.”
The White House declined to comment on the record to the Daily Caller.
News of Klain’s past request coincides with an ongoing federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The investigation involves possible tax violations, allegations of money laundering as well as foreign lobbying. (RELATED: The Biden Admin’s Ties To Ukraine Go Deeper Than Hunter And Burisma)
The investigation into Hunter Biden was prompted after a laptop was discovered that had been abandoned by the president’s son in Delaware. The laptop contained emails linking Hunter Biden to a Chinese energy company.
The White House has remained staunch in its defense of Hunter Biden, with White House communications director Kate Bedingfield noting last week that the president “stands by” his 2020 declaration that his son did “nothing unethical” in his business dealings.