The White House has defended Hunter Biden for selling $375,000 worth of his artwork despite ethical questions regarding the President’s son going into the art business.
When asked during a press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated that anyone who buys Hunter’s art would remain anonymous, explaining that "we still do not know and will not know who purchases any paintings," adding that "the president remains proud of his son," Breitbart reports.
Psaki noted that the anonymity of buyers is a positive and is strictly part of the arrangement. This comes despite concerns from White House ethics experts, including former President Barack Obama’s former ethics czar, Walter Shaub, who believes that the buyers' identities should be public and that this arrangement between Hunter and his gallerist could lead to money laundering and bribes.
According to Rolling Stone, Shaub believes there is no way to ensure suspicious deals won’t get made with the current arrangement.
"The idea that they’re going to flag any overly priced offers — well, this is art that hasn’t even been juried into a community art sale," Shaib said. "How are they going to decide what’s unreasonable when they’ve already priced it in the range of $75,000 to $500,000 for a first outing? This is just preposterous and very disappointing."
"It’s an industry that’s notorious for money laundering. There’s no standards in that industry," Shaub added.
Hunter reportedly sold at least five paintings for $75,000 each at his art show in Los Angeles.
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