Hunter Biden made 'proper request' to State Dept. about Ukrainian company, lawyer says

Hunter Biden's lawyer is denying that his client acted improperly after a new report said the president's son sought assistance as a board member of the Ukrainian company Burisma from the State Department when Joe Biden was vice president.

Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's attorney, said in a statement that in 2016, his client and others asked various people including the then-ambassador to Italy, John R. Phillips, if they could help make an introduction to the president of Tuscany regarding a geothermal project Burisma wanted to do in the region.

"No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought, and only an introduction in Italy was requested," Lowell said.

Lowell said that it was a "proper request" and that it was no different than "hundreds of similar requests for instructions that businesses make to ambassadors every year, would hardly have triggered any registration requirement, and if it ever had, the work clearly would fall into exceptions for commercial transactions."

He seemed to be referring to the requirement that people register when they lobby the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The State Department directed questions about Hunter Biden’s correspondence to his legal representatives. "We do not have any additional perspective to offer on the production of these documents, given that it is tied up and as part of ongoing litigation," State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at the daily briefing. "But broadly, let me just say individuals from all over the world, and from varying sectors, seek counsel, advice, information from our ambassadors and principal officers at our embassies and consulates around the world. The department takes every responsibility to evaluate those requests on their merits, and we act appropriately."

The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing State Department records, that Hunter Biden had sought assistance from the U.S. government for Burisma. The records included a letter among the documents released as part of a large Freedom of Information Act request of State Department records from Biden to the U.S. ambassador to Italy, the report said, though the Times said the actual text of the letter was redacted.

NBC News has not obtained these documents.

The State Department confirmed that the documents were released as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act request and would be made available to the public in the coming weeks.

A White House spokesman told NBC News that Biden was not aware when he was vice president that his son was reaching out to the U.S. Embassy in Italy on behalf of Burisma.

NBC News has reported that the Justice Department investigation, which began in 2018 during the Trump administration, did not find cause to file charges related to Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings or any other related wrongdoing. Several congressional inquiries into Hunter Biden's business dealings have also failed to substantiate allegations of criminal conduct by either the president or his son.

Lowell said the letter in question "sought nothing more than an introduction, as businesses do every day."

"Were it not for the fact that this one was by Hunter Biden, no one would write about this normal and proper practice," he said.

According to the Times, a Commerce Department official based at the U.S. Embassy in Rome told Hunter Biden at the time that the U.S. government shouldn't be "actively advocating with the government of Italy" without Burisma going through a Commerce Department program that supports American companies that want to do business with foreign governments.

The Times reported that the project never came to fruition, which Lowell confirmed.

U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Donald Trump appointee, began investigating Hunter Biden in 2018 and was appointed as a special counsel last year by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The investigation led to two indictments against Hunter Biden: in Delaware on gun-related charges and in California on tax-related charges. Hunter Biden is expected to stand trial next month in the California case.

He was found guilty on three felony gun charges in Delaware in June and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13.