Fact Check: Did Joe Biden Meet With Hunter's Associates More Than 80 Times?

Hunter Biden's business dealings have come under fresh scrutiny over the past month, as conservatives allege that his family may have benefited from his associations in China.

In March, Republican lawmakers published a memo alleging that President Joe Biden's son Hunter and at least two other relatives received just over $1 million from a Chinese company through indirect payments.

Joe Biden's ties to his son's business affairs have long been a source of speculation and, according to one recent social media post, he has met with Hunter's associates dozens of times.

The Claim

A tweet by Benny Johnson, posted on April 15, 2023, and viewed 140,000 times, alleged that Biden took meetings with Hunter's associates "AT THE WHITE HOUSE" more than 80 times.

Johnson, a conservative commentator, tweeted: "Joe Biden says he never discussed Hunter's overseas business deals.

"But shortly after Hunter joined the board of [Ukrainian energy company] Burisma, Joe was taking meetings with his associates AT THE WHITE HOUSE, over 80 times.

"Then he FLEW to Ukraine to push for natural gas and fracking.

"Joe is a liar."

The Facts

Whatever further revelations may come to light, Johnson's tweet doesn't match the information that it appears to be based on.

The claim that there were more than 80 interactions between Hunter Biden's associates and Joe Biden appears to have come from a Fox News story which does not state that the current president met frequently with his son's business partners.

The Fox News report related to the period when Biden was vice-president in President Barack Obama's administration.

The report, published on April 11, 2023, was based on White House visitor logs naming former alleged business associates of Hunter Biden, including a former executive of investment firm Rosemont Seneca and an assistant.

Some of these encounters happened at the White House and at other residences associated with Joe Biden. However, in contrast to Johnson's tweet, the Fox report carefully qualifies the nature of the encounters, and says Biden himself met only one of the people. Other meetings were with aides to Biden.

There is a possibility that Biden may have met one or all of the people named in the story but it only names Devon Archer, the co-founder of Rosemont Seneca Partners, as having met the then-vice president twice.

While reporting the proximity of these names to the president, many of whom Fox reports visited the Obama White House on multiple occasions, it does not make any explicit claim that Biden was involved in Hunter's business dealings, something he has repeatedly denied in the past.

It's possible that among each of these more than 80 encounters that Fox alleges took place, Biden could have been at each one and met with these associates, but that is merely speculative. As it stands, Benny Johnson does not appear to have the appropriate evidence to support the claim he made on Twitter.

Hunter Biden launched a lawsuit last month against the owner of the computer store who allegedly took possession of a laptop belonging to the president's son.

The 42-page counterclaim lawsuit alleges that John Paul Mac Isaac, owner of the Mac Shop business, accessed and used Biden's information without legal permission and also distributed it.

Newsweek has contacted the White House, a representative for Hunter Biden and Fox News via email, and Benny Johnson via Twitter, for comment.

The Ruling

Unverified.

Benny Johnson's tweet appears to have been based on a Fox News story which mentions more than 80 interactions that former business associates of Hunter Biden were alleged to have made with the White House.

Unlike Johnson's tweet, the article only mentions a small number of interactions between Biden himself and these people and the nature of those interactions is not spelled out.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team