Biden books Weather Channel interview after latest Hunter revelations

WASHINGTON — That’s one way to dodge a storm.

President Biden granted a rare interview Tuesday to the Weather Channel while continuing to duck questions about bombshell revelations concerning his role in his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings.

Biden, 80, has not answered any questions about last week’s deposition by his son’s longtime business partner Devon Archer, who told the House Oversight Committee that Joe Biden called into his son’s business meetings at least 20 times while vice president — and met in-person with patrons from China and Eastern Europe.

Biden’s chief defender in the congressional probes, Manhattan and Brooklyn Rep. Dan Goldman, insisted last week that the now-president and his son “talked about the weather” in the freshly revealed conversations — but Republicans aren’t buying it and are moving closer to launching an impeachment inquiry.

The Weather Channel tweeted that Biden would discuss “our changing planet” with Weather Channel meteorologist Stephanie Abrams.

The interview will air in segments between 6 a.m. and noon eastern on Wednesday, the channel said.

White House communications director Ben LaBolt tweeted: “Today at the Grand Canyon – the President will tape an interview on his plan to combat climate change, addressing the threat posed by extreme weather and to promote resilience. Meeting viewers where they are – including those who don’t tune into political news on a regular basis.”

Biden has not given a single interview as president to a newspaper reporter and has given far fewer news conferences than his recent predecessors — reshaping presidential interactions with the press as he seeks a second four-year term next year.

Archer revealed to the Oversight Committee that Joe Biden attended two separate dinners at a Washington restaurant with his son’s Eastern European associates in 2014 and 2015 — rather than one as previously reported.

The dinner guests included former first lady of Moscow Yelena Baturina and an executive from Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, which paid Hunter Biden up to $1 million per year beginning in 2014 as his father led US policy toward Ukraine.

Hunter, now 53, later called his father from Dubai in December 2015 with two Burisma associates, including the company’s owner Mykola Zlochevsky, Archer said.

Archer also said that most of a $3.5 million wire from Baturina in early 2014 to an Archer and Hunter Biden-associated corporate entity was in turn transferred to a different firm co-owned by Archer and Hunter Biden. Biden defenders had insisted for years that Baturina’s transfer went solely to a fund controlled to Archer.

The witness also revealed that Joe Biden, again while vice president, “had coffee” with Jonathan Li, the incoming CEO of Chinese state-backed investment fund BHR Partners — rather than a mere handshake greeting in Beijing in 2013, as initially reported — and that Hunter, who held a 10% stake in BHR until at least 2021, later put his dad on speakerphone with Li as well.

Archer said in an interview last week with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s business relationships was an “abuse of soft power” that boosted the financial value of the Biden family “brand” that Hunter was marketing.

The former business partner even released a Jan. 20, 2011, letter from then-Vice President Joe Biden expressing his pleasure that Archer was partnering with Hunter and thanking him for attending a luncheon with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao — directly contradicting Joe Biden’s blanket denial that he ever discussed business with his son.

Archer said it was “categorically false” that Joe Biden had no role in his son’s businesses.

“He was aware of Hunter’s business, he met with Hunter’s business partners, I mean you found a letter that illustrates that he knew me,” Archer told Carlson, referencing the January 2011 note.

House Republicans are investigating the elder Biden’s role in his family’s businesses and any official favors to foreign benefactors that may be associates, including Burisma’s alleged interest in ousting a prosecutor whom Joe Biden later claimed credit for forcing from office.

Republicans also are investigating the Biden Justice Department’s alleged interference with a long-running investigation of his son for tax fraud.

Two IRS whistleblowers who worked on the case testified last month that they were steered away from focusing on Joe Biden’s role in financial dealings by prosecutors.

A probation-only plea deal for Hunter Biden on tax fraud and gun charges dramatically fell apart during a court hearing last month as questioning from a federal judge in Delaware revealed stark differences between the defense and prosecutors on whether Hunter was immune from prosecution for all past conduct.

A document released after the hearing appeared to confirm that prosecutors had agreed to give Hunter broad immunity for past crimes, despite representations to the contrary in court.