The United States of America president Joe Biden has been tainted for participating in ‘unethical practices’ relating to Hunter Biden’s art business operations in the country. The high throne of any form is always prone to ‘unethical practices, especially when family members, close relatives, or friends are involved. But to engage in such behavior, specifically for a leader, is deemed wrong and unfair since a leader is supposed to lead in the fight against immoral and unethical activities in their own territory. Hence, allegations of this nature strip off Biden of his stand-up character for legality in all government and private sectors.
Former US government ethics officer chief Walter Shaub blamed president Biden for allowing his son Hunter Biden to take advantage of his father’s office in the art business. Mr. Shaub was once a director of Government Ethics in the US offices from 2013 to 2017 under the rule of former president Barrack Obama. He then served under former US President Donald Trump for a few months in the same position. Shaub has challenged Hunter’s business move to sell his artwork in New York through an art gallery while hiding the identity of his buyers. It is reported that Hunter Biden plans to sell his art pieces with prices ranging around $500,000 and his credentials depict that he is not a professional artist.
To Shaub, these art sales seem to have a hidden agenda and might be used as a bribe or a way to get certain favors by Biden. In laying down his argument to CNN, Shaub said, “There’s no way to look at this and believe for a second that Hunter Biden is not trying to profit off of his father’s public service by selling art at these extraordinary prices when he hasn’t even juried into a community art fair before. Hunter has jumped to ‘running before crawling,’ which is a ‘shady’ sign to the onlookers. Mr. Shaub condemns the White House for participating in the secrecy of purchasers who are going to buy the artwork, and he referred to the White House’s intervention as “naïve and disingenuous” [Source].
He goes on to say that “On the one hand, it’s naïve because you don’t spend half a million dollars on the President’s son’s piece of art to keep that a secret. And second, it sends a message that the White House is blessing this”. The defense given to support this ‘secrecy’ decision was that if the public is allowed to track and monitor the treatment of the buyers after they acquire the artworks, then buyers’ interests will be restricted. But Shaub argued on how the White House wants Hunter to financial benefit more out of keeping the identity of his buyers a secret, which then taints Biden for letting his son benefit from his father’s position, and that is unwanted nepotism [Source].
Mr. Shaun suggested that Hunter become a businessperson on his own without feeding off on his father’s job by ‘profiting’ too much. If the Biden administration cannot do that, Shaun proposed that the White House reveals any information about the buyers when Hunter carries on with his art projects. He alluded to Biden as having a good character and highlighted how the public eye would see this act by Hunter as a betrayal to the ethics. Americans expect Biden to usher them back to observing ethics so they cannot see Hunter profiting by selling arts at “ridiculous” prices while the White House defends him. However, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki uttered how the President’s children are free to pursue any career they deem necessary. She doubts that Biden might be bribed by outsiders, as suggested by Shaun [Source].
Shaun’s claims of nepotism are backed up by administration jobs that were “handed” to the President’s administration officials’ relatives. For instance, the employment of Psaki’s sister, chief of staff’s wife, White Counsellor’s three children, deputy chief of staff’s, and director of presidential personnel’s daughters might point to how family ties are being exploited in the job industry. In a series of tweets by Shaun as soon as Biden took office, he bemoaned Biden’s actions of betraying his promises to uphold ethics. The tweets focused on nepotism being used to hire relatives of government officials, especially recent graduates who were given jobs in the presidential administration, and this happened even though Biden had assured people that “he’d be plain vanilla.” Shaun called himself a “stupid moron” for believing that Biden was going to transform the country.
Nepotism is a serious act against office ethics. These accusations assassinate any goodness by a person, which means Biden might steer up anger among his loyal fans and those who voted him into office.
