Former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) said Tuesday that while he does not believe fellow Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has done anything wrong, he would not allow family members of his own vice president to sit on the board of a foreign company.
“I don’t believe the vice president or his son did anything wrong,” Delaney said during a CNN interview while discussing how he would handle such a situation if he were president. “However, I generally believe you should always avoid the appearance of impropriety.”
“In my administration, I expect to raise the ethics standards, if you will, to prohibit certain activities that deal with foreign corporations, and this would be one of them,” he added.
President Trump and his GOP allies in recent weeks have criticized Biden over his efforts while serving as vice president in 2016 to push Ukraine to fire a top prosecutor.
The prosecutor had looked into a Ukrainian energy company where Biden’s son served on the board, though no evidence has emerged that Biden acted with his son’s interests in mind, and both Bidens have denied any wrongdoing.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight last month and has since been at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry following revelations that Trump urged the president of Ukraine to investigate Biden and his son over the summer.
During a July 25 phone call — a rough transcript of which was later released by the White House — Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to “look into” Biden and encouraged the foreign leader to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on the matter.
Details of Trump’s efforts were first revealed in a complaint filed by a member of the U.S. intelligence community in August, which was declassified and released the following month.
Delaney is among more than a dozen Democrats running for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination but has struggled to gain traction in polls.
“No, I wouldn’t,” Klobuchar told CNN on Sunday. “And I can promise you right now by own daughter, who is only 24, does not sit on the board of a foreign company.”
“I would not allow a family member, anyone in my Cabinet, to have a family member work in a position like that,” O’Rourke told the Washington Examiner.