Democratic congressman wants answers on Joe Biden’s discussions about son’s business dealings

A Democratic House member said Monday that he wants "an explanation" on former Vice President Joe Biden's dubious claim that he never discussed his son Hunter BIden's business dealings in the Ukraine.

Hunter Biden's ties to Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma — which employed him as a board member — is at the center of a recent media firestorm over a call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump reportedly urged Zelensky to look into a probe of the company and Hunter Biden.

At a 2018 Council on Foreign Relations event, Biden said that he — while still vice president — pressured then-Ukranain president Petro Poroshenko to fire then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, while Shokin was leading an investigation into the company by threatening to withhold $1billion in U.S. loan guarantees.

Over the weekend, the former vice president told Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, "I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings." However, in a July article from The New Yorker titled "Will Hunter Biden Jeopardize His Father's Campaign?" the younger Biden says that he discussed his relationship with Burisma "just once." In December 2015, the article said, an Obama administration official raised the issue with then Vice President Biden. Hunter told the magazine that, "Dad said, 'I hope you know what you are doing,' and I said, 'I do.'"

When asked about the disparities about the Bidens' different stories Monday morning on CNN, Rep. Vicente Gonzales (D-Texas) told host Poppy Harlow that "clearly something needs to be cleared up at this point. So yes, of course I would want an explanation on that."

Dem Rep: Biden Needs To Explain His False Claim About Never Talking Overseas Business With His Sonwww.youtube.com

The recent controversy about Trump's July phone call began with a complaint from a so-called whistleblower who reportedly did not have "direct knowledge" of the conversation with Zelensky.

On Sunday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) threatened a "whole new stage of investigation" if the acting director of national intelligence doesn't give Congress the whistleblower complaint that started this firestorm. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is threatening to withhold funding from the intelligence community over the matter.