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Hunter Biden regrets 'poor judgment' in handling work with Ukraine firm

By Nicholas Sakelaris
Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., with wife Jill Biden, his son Hunter (L) and his wife Kathleen in 2009. File Photo by Jim Bourg/UPI/Pool
1 of 3 | Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., with wife Jill Biden, his son Hunter (L) and his wife Kathleen in 2009. File Photo by Jim Bourg/UPI/Pool | License Photo

Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Hunter Biden expressed regret in the way he accepted work with a Ukrainian oil and gas company, not realizing the impact it might have on his father's 2020 campaign, he told ABC News in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

His work for the company is an element of the impeachment investigation in the House, as it was a focus of President Donald Trump's requests to Ukraine for scrutiny. Biden was a member of the company between 2014 and January.

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"In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part. I think that it was poor judgment because I don't believe now, when I look back on it -- I know that there was ... nothing wrong at all," he told ABC News in the interview.

In the interview with ABC News reporter Amy Robach last weekend, Biden defended his work with the firm and said there was never any sort of wrongdoing, but said he wished he'd have handled things differently.

"I joined a board, I served honorably. I did -- I focused on corporate governance. I didn't have any discussions with my father before or after I joined the board as it related to it, other than that brief exchange that we had."

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Biden, 49, said he wishes he'd anticipated the potential impact on the former vice president's political aspirations.

"What I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani and a president of the United States that would be listening to this -- this ridiculous conspiracy idea," he said.

House investigators are trying to determine if Trump threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation of the Bidens. Joe Biden is a Democratic front-runner challenging Trump in next year's presidential election. Trump has acknowledged he withheld aid temporarily and pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Biden's work, but said neither act was related.

Biden's interview follows several days of testimony in the House impeachment inquiry. Former White House adviser Fiona Hill testified in a deposition Monday. CNN and The New York Times reported that Hill raised concerns about the role of Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani in the Ukraine matter -- and testified that former national security adviser John Bolton warned Giuliani was a "hand grenade" that was going to "blow everybody up."

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Hill also told investigators she confronted U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about his role in the Ukraine ordeal, as it was outside the purview of his EU responsibilities, CNN's report said. Sondland is scheduled to give a deposition in the House Thursday.

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