Prints of Hunter Biden's artwork reportedly sell for $75K each; Rep. Devin Nunes: 'The whole thing is outrageous. The American people know it.'



President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, sold at least five prints of his artwork for $75,000 each, according to a report from the New York Post.

The pieces of art were reportedly sold by the Georges Berges Gallery before a "pop up" presentation in Los Angeles on Oct. 1.

"It's unclear who purchased the reproductions — which cost a fraction of the top price of $500,000 for an original piece by President Biden's scandal-scarred son — or if any more were sold after the LA show opened," the New York Post reported.

"But most of those allowed to buy works are long-term, private collectors with the gallery," a source familiar with the sale told the outlet.

On Oct. 1, Biden's artwork was featured at the Milk Studios in Hollywood, which attracted about 200 people, including boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and musician Moby. Also in attendance at the "tightly-policed event" was Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti – who was a national co-chairman of Biden's 2020 presidential campaign and was nominated by the president to serve as the U.S. ambassador to India.

Hunter Biden art https://t.co/duPtGreYHX https://t.co/uwbf4XTfop

— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) 1633444674.0

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked on Wednesday about Garcetti attending the art event for the president's son.

"The ethicists who have pointed to this arrangement have expressed concern that the President's son selling art could potentially put the President in a situation where those who seek jobs either in this administration or favors from this administration could put this White House in an awkward position," CBS News Radio reporter Steven Portnoy said, and then asked, "Should we expect to see more people who seek jobs in this administration attending events like this in the future?"

Psaki replied, "Again, the gallerist has spoken to — we've spoken to the specifics of what the gallerist has agreed to and what recommendations were made. I've done that several times. I don't have additional details for it from here. I'd point you to them."

"And we were very transparent about what recommendations were made to the gallerist, and I would again point you to them or the many times I've spoken about that from here," she added.

Reporter grills Psaki about Hunter Biden's artwork selling for $500,000Psaki: "I'd point you to the gallerist." https://t.co/qp1QMa6y5Z

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) 1633554046.0

Former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter – who served in George W. Bush's administration – explained that Biden mingling with 200 people at his art show "illustrates how this veil-of-secrecy idea is not happening."

"It shows the deal's not going to be secret," Painted added. "I think the White House needs to go to Plan B."

Painter also commented about Hunter selling prints for $75,000, "Buyers buy artwork to hang on the wall, not put in a closet."

During a Friday night appearance on "The Ingraham Angle," Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) skewered the Biden administration for Hunter Biden's art venture.

Nunes asked, "Who buys a piece of artwork and doesn't put it up on their wall? I mean, how are they gonna keep this secret?"

"It's ludicrous. The whole thing is outrageous," Nunes said of Hunter Biden's lucrative foray into the art world. "The American people know it."

"This was supposed to be the most transparent administration in history and clearly they went to an area that's known for fraud and money laundering," the Republican lawmaker said. "That's why they're doing this."

Walter Shaub – the former director of the Office of Government Ethics during the Obama administration – previously bashed the Biden administration over Hunter's highly profitable new endeavor, saying it is "the opposite of government ethics."

"Nobody ever said secrecy was the best disinfectant, but that's what we have now. And White House officials getting involved in any way other than to request transparency amounts to effectively putting an official stamp of approval on the president's son trading on his father's public service," Shaub said in July. "Instead, the president should be begging his son not to go through with this sale, even if that means threatening to banish him from the family's Thanksgiving table this fall and publicly condemning his actions."

Shaub stated that the White House "has put its stamp of approval on the president's son profiting off his father's public service again."

Shaub noted that the art industry is "fertile ground for money laundering."

Hunter Biden – who has no formal art training – will command $75,000 for works on paper to $500,000 for large-scale paintings, gallery manager Georges Bergès told Artnet in June.

Artnet noted that the prices for Hunter Biden's artwork would put him "in the very top tier of emerging artists."

"Even if they were mind-bending contemporary-art breakthroughs, that would put Biden—who has never had an art show before, and started blowing ink on Japanese paper as a kind of therapy as he attempted to recover from multiple well-documented personal disasters—in the very top tier of emerging artists."

Discussing Hunter's art and the speculative prices of his works, New York art gallery owner Marc Straus said, "For someone who has no professional training and has never sold art on the commercial market, no one would ever start at these prices."

The report from the Post also claimed that Hunter's art show in New York City that was scheduled to open this month has been delayed until the spring. The show in Los Angeles will reportedly continue through November.

Obama's ethics chief eviscerates White House for reportedly devising art scheme to sell Hunter Biden paintings to secret buyers for as much as $500K



Art is a big business. Worldwide sales of art and antiques reached an estimated $64.1 billion in 2019, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. One of the more curious artists to begin selling their artwork is Hunter Biden. The son of President Joe Biden is selling his artwork for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars presents a potential headache for the White House.

The Biden administration reportedly stepped in and helped broker a deal that would allow a purchaser of Hunter's artwork to remain anonymous, which has concerned many over the possibility of bribery and money being exchanged for influence. One of the critics who slammed this alleged secret selling situation is Walter Shaub, former President Barack Obama's onetime ethics chief.

Hunter's art dealer is Georges Berges, who "plans to host a private viewing for Biden in Los Angeles this fall, followed by an exhibition in New York," according to Artnet. "Prices range from $75,000 for works on paper to $500,000 for large-scale paintings."

Shaub told Fox News that Hunter's art deal is "the opposite of government ethics." In effect, the Biden administration got the "art dealer to promise not to give us the means to monitor whether the buyers are getting preferential access to government" by keeping buyers anonymous, according to Shaub.

"Nobody ever said secrecy was the best disinfectant, but that's what we have now. And White House officials getting involved in any way other than to request transparency amounts to effectively putting an official stamp of approval on the president's son trading on his father's public service," Shaub said. "Instead, the president should be begging his son not to go through with this sale, even if that means threatening to banish him from the family's Thanksgiving table this fall and publicly condemning his actions."

"The idea's that even Hunter won't know, but the WH has outsourced government ethics to a private art dealer," Shaub wrote on Twitter. "We're supposed to trust a merchant in an industry that's fertile ground for money laundering, as well as unknown buyers who could tell Hunter or WH officials? No thanks. Is this amateur hour for government ethics?"

The former Office of Government Ethics director emphasized, "The WH has put its stamp of approval on the president's son profiting off his father's public service again."

"Yeah yeah, I know some folks aren't going to like this thread because we're not supposed to criticize the president who's way better than the ethical disaster named Trump," Shaub explained. "But, you know what? With democracy on the ropes, ethics has never been more important. And this ain't it."

Richard Painter, who was a top ethics official in the George W. Bush administration, told the Washington Post, "The whole thing is a really bad idea."

"The initial reaction a lot of people are going to have is that he's capitalizing on being the son of a president and wants people to give him a lot of money," Painter said. "I mean, those are awfully high prices."

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) pointed out some potential issues with Hunter selling expensive art to unknown entities, "Some very tough ethical questions about whether the president's son, who is still investing in CCP-linked firms, should take $500,000 in payment (bribes) for his 'artwork.' Better consult the experts on this one!"

Some very tough ethical questions about whether the president's son, who is still investing in CCP-linked firms, sh… https://t.co/EbBOxYytgJ

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) 1625757199.0

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said Hunter had done nothing wrong with his new business endeavor.

"The president has established the highest ethical standards of any administration in American history, and his family's commitment to rigorous processes like this is a prime example," Bates responded to the criticism.

A bipartisan Senate investigation released last July alleges that the art industry is "largely unregulated," and "uncovered a complex set of facts involving shell companies with hidden owners, intermediaries who mask purchasers and sellers, and lax money laundering safeguards in the U.S. art industry."

"There is a lack of transparency in private art sales," the 150-page congressional report states. "As such, Congress should add high-value art to the list of industries that must comply with BSA requirements. Given the intrinsic secrecy of the art industry, it is clear that change is needed in this multi-billion-dollar industry."

The report alleges that "certain Russian oligarchs appear to have used transactions involving high-value art to evade sanctions imposed on them by the United States on March 20, 2014, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea."

Last month, Shaub blasted President Biden for allowing children and relatives of powerful administration officials to be hired for key government positions.

"[T]his royally sucks. I'm disgusted," Shaub said in June. "A lot of us worked hard to tee him up to restore ethics to government and believed the promises. This is a real 'f*** you' to us—and government ethics."

Georges Berges describes Hunter Biden's jump into art:

Biden has been a lifelong artist that has devoted his artistic career to both the written word and the visual arts. A lawyer by trade who now devotes his life to the creative arts - he brings a myriad of experiences creating powerful and impactful pieces of art. Biden's paintings range from photographic mix-media to abstract works on canvas, yupo paper, wood and metal. He incorporates oil, acrylic, ink and the written word within his work to create a distinctively unique experience that have become signature Biden.

Artnet notes that some of Biden's artwork are "geometric abstractions, filled with patterns and somewhat hallucinogenic."

Hunter admitted in February 2020, "For years I wouldn't call myself an artist," but, "Now I feel comfortable saying it."

"I don't paint from emotion or feeling, which I think are both very ephemeral," Biden said. "For me, painting is much more about kind of trying to bring forth what is, I think, the universal truth."

When asked what President Joe Biden thinks of his art, Hunter responded, "My dad loves everything that I do, and so, I'll leave it at that."