Hunter Biden benefactor defends millions in loans and close friendship

Hollywood lawyer and Hunter Biden benefactor Kevin Morris told House GOP investigators that he paid millions of dollars worth of expenses for the president’s son through loans due to a close friendship, with no suggestion or expectation that he would receive any special benefits from the White House or the president.

Morris — who has helped Hunter Biden pay for around $5 million of dollars in tax, legal, housing, and public relations expenses — said that while there was not initially a clear agreement for repayment, the terms of an agreement later drawn up by their lawyers doesn’t require repayment until 2025.

Morris spoke to the House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees last week in a closed-door interview as part of the Republican investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings and the handling of the tax crimes investigation into Hunter Biden, which Republicans have put under the umbrella of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The committees released the transcript of that interview Tuesday.

Release of the transcript came after public squabbling over its contents. An attorney for Morris last week accused the Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee of cherry-picking his testimony soon after it concluded.

Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), in a statement after the interview but before the transcript was released, had seemed to imply that the payments weren’t loans, using the word only in quotes and saying the lawyer had “access” to the White House. 

Morris said he had been to the White House just three times while Joe Biden was president, and only exchanged pleasantries with the commander in chief. Hunter Biden gave him a tour of the White House in 2021, during which Morris said the president waved and “made a crack about my hair” — “He always makes jokes about my hair.” Morris also attended the 2022 wedding of Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden’s daughter, where he gave the president “a quick hello,” and he attended the Independence Day picnic in 2023.

Morris repeatedly said he got no benefit, favor, or consideration from the White House for paying the younger Biden’s taxes and consistently denied any connection with a foreign government. 

And despite the unorthodox arrangement between the two men, Morris was insistent he expected the loan to be repaid, despite assertions from Republicans they might be forgiven. 

“I loaned money. I didn’t pay for anything,” Morris said at one point.

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Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the Morris transcript was the “latest in House GOP ‘failure theater,’” saying Morris testified he “never discussed business with President Biden and never sought or received any benefit from him.”

The interview, though, provides some insight into a relationship that has long confounded Republicans. 

Morris has served as both Biden’s attorney and as his friend, saying he felt a connection of brotherhood with the president’s son from their first meeting.

“In what I do, I become very close to my clients, and I don’t — you know, and I usually — I almost always become friends with them. That’s just the way I do it. You know, some people don’t think that’s a good idea. That’s just the way I do it. I’m in their life. I’m in their corner,” Morris told investigators.

Morris, who made his fortune in part through negotiating deals for the creators of “South Park,” said he first met Hunter Biden in November 2019 at a fundraiser for President Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. About a week later, he visited Hunter Biden at his home for a five-hour conversation at the urging of a mutual contact, Lanette Phillips. Both men had journeys to sobriety and grew up in the same part of the country.

“That was a very profound meeting, and it was, you know, one of the most important meetings of my life. And, you know, at that time and until today, it was my belief that Hunter was being tremendously mistreated,” Morris said.

Morris started acting as a general counsel of sorts for Hunter Biden. 

“I oversee sort of the squad. Sort of like a general counsel. But I am involved in everything,” Morris said, clarifying that one of Hunter Biden’s main attorneys, Abbe Lowell, does not report to him.

Just weeks after their first meeting, in January 2020, Morris started loaning Hunter Biden money and paying for various expenses via loans — including moving him and his pregnant wife from a house overrun with paparazzi to another residence, his tax debts, security expenses and more.

Morris said loaning the money was his own idea — not Hunter Biden’s.

“It’s immodest to talk about that stuff. … I’ve been around for a while, so there’s a lot of charity. I help a lot of friends. I tend to try to help friends more than donate to charities,” Morris told investigators. But he acknowledged he could not recall helping out any other friends to the tune of $5 million — the reported sum he’s sent to Hunter Biden.

Though a significant sum for Hunter Biden, the Hollywood lawyer told members of Congress the payments constituted “less than 5 percent” of his total assets.

“Hunter never asked me for money,” Morris said. “You know, these are complicated, emotional things, but I — you know, I saw a guy, you know, that was from home, could have been my friend. He was getting — in my opinion, getting the shit beat out of him by the world. I found that he had danger — you know, to my opinion, worrisome lack of support. And he was an individual — and I believe, and still believe today he’s a very good person and a great guy. And, you know, that’s why I decided to step in.“

Initially, there was no formal agreement on repayment — with Morris saying it might not have been documented six months to a year later.  An agreement where loan repayment would start in 2025 was struck by other lawyers for Morris and Hunter Biden.

“Let me be clear. You know, I’m not an idiot. I know the importance of these things being arm’s length,” Morris said of the loan structure.

And while the timeline of a repayment wasn’t made clear, Morris repeatedly asserted he expected to be repaid.

When asked by a staffer why he was so confident in that, he shot back, “Because I’m confident in Hunter.”

But Morris’s generosity and close client relationships were scrutinized by GOP lawmakers, with Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) describing it as a departure from his own time as a lawyer. 

“Maybe I wasn’t friendly enough with my clients when I was practicing. I don’t know,” Biggs said.

“But the line seems so blurred between you as the professional attorney with Hunter Biden and you with this tremendous affinity, friendship, such that you talk to him every day.”

“Because I’m not sure I ever had an attorney-client relationship the way you’re describing,” Biggs added.

Morris shrugged that off. 

“Congressman, I do a lot of things very differently than other people. That’s just — that’s just my style,” he said, noting that in some cases he’s worked for people for free for years.