The former head of the federal government's ethics department under President Barack Obama chastised White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday, a day after she dismissed queries about whether buyers of Hunter Biden's art would stay anonymous.
Last week, five of the first son's prints had sold for $75,000 each, and a team of lawyers was screening those potential purchasers at a future New York show.
"Did you have another question on something else? There is a lot going on in the globe," the press secretary said, cutting off further queries about the matter, as per NY Post.
Hunter Biden's art sale sparks ethics concern
Walter Shaub, who led the US Office of Government Ethics during Obama's second term and resigned in the summer of 2017, was enraged by the response.
According to Shaub and other government ethics experts, Hunter Biden's art is likely to pique the curiosity of potential buyers looking to curry favor with his father's administration.
The doubts intensified after Biden's choice for ambassador to India, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, attended the first son's Hollywood debut earlier this month.
Meanwhile, during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" on Thursday, Lara Trump predicted that the truth about Hunter Biden and his artwork would be "very damaging" to the Biden White House. Trump went on to call Jen Psaki's response to a reporter's ethics inquiry "disappointing" and "dangerous," Fox News reported.
Despite having no expertise, background, or status in the art world, the controversial son of President Joe Biden has been selling artwork for five and six-figure sums. This has created a legitimate set of ethical concerns about his links to the White House, which has gone to great lengths to establish "safeguards" to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Source claims attendees of Hunter Biden's art debut are private collectors
The topic of discussion on Fox & Friends was White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki's response to a query regarding Hunter Biden's artwork being sold for $75,000 by claiming the buyer was still unknown.
The prints were sold from Georges Berges Gallery in Los Angeles before the exhibition's debut on October 1, prompting the current round of concerns. It's unknown whether more paintings were sold after the LA show debuted or which replicas were sold.
The majority of those authorized to buy pieces are long-term, private collectors with the gallery, individuals that Berges knows personally, a source familiar with the sale said.
The transactions come as Biden's art deals are being scrutinized for their ethical implications. On Friday, Biden and his gallery manager Georges Berges entertained approximately 200 guests at the renowned Milk studios in Hollywood, including his wife Melissa and two of his daughters, Naomi Biden, 27, and Maisy Biden, 20, according to video and images acquired exclusively by DailyMail.com.
Around 200 people were invited to the carefully controlled event, attended by a slew of LA's glitterati and potential buyers of Hunter's work, which ranges in price from $75,000 to $500,000.
World Champion boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, Moby, Garcetti, and the artist behind Barack Obama's iconic Hope poster were among the potential buyers and celebrity guests who attended the event. Former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter claims, "Biden's attendance at the show illustrates how this veil-of-secrecy idea is not happening." He says that the White House's attempt to keep buyers' identities hidden is ineffective.
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