State Department report shows Hunter Biden sought the government’s help for Ukrainian gas company Burisma

 A newly released report from the Department of State reveals that presidential son Hunter Biden sought the department's help for Ukrainian energy company Burisma while President Joe Biden was vice president.

This revelation comes from the New York Times, which filed Freedom of Information Act requests to make public a letter Hunter wrote to then-United States Ambassador to Italy John R. Phillips in 2016 seeking his assistance for Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company which the younger Biden worked on as a member of its board of directors.

At the time, Burisma had been working on a geothermal project in Tuscany in central Italy and the company was having trouble getting regulatory approval for the project to push through.

It is unclear if the embassy ever provided Burisma with the aid it requested, and the company's geothermal project never got off the ground.

The New York Times was able to uncover this revelation at the conclusion of a three-year-long protracted effort by the State Department to prevent the release of these documents.

The revelation also comes as Hunter prepares to stand trial in California in September on charges of tax evasion on his foreign earnings from Burisma and other overseas corporations. They follow his conviction back in June on charges of illegally owning a firearm at a time when he was still struggling with his crack cocaine addiction.  

Hunter denies all wrongdoing, White House claims the president was never involved

Emails found in Hunter's laptop cache also indicate that he has been in communication with an Italian businessman who claimed to have ties to Enrico Rossi, who was serving at the time as the president of Tuscany's regional government.

Rossi responded to inquiries from the New York Times claiming that he has never met Hunter and had no recollection of the U.S. Embassy in Italy contacting him about the Burisma project.

Phillips has also denied knowledge of the incident, claiming he receives a lot of letters and requests to participate in activities as the ambassador. "I certainly would pay attention to it" if Hunter had contacted him, Phillips told the New York Times.

"Out of courtesy, I'd probably make sure he got a response of some sort, but not necessarily from me," he continued. "And I wouldn't even want to encourage it, because I wouldn't get us involved in something like that."

A lawyer representing Hunter claimed the presidential son's outreach to Ambassador Phillips on behalf of Burisma was a "proper request," and that he had reached out to "various people" to help arrange an introduction between Burisma's board of directors and the regional government of Tuscany.

"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."

The documents obtained by the New York Times strongly suggest that embassy officials were uneasy about fulfilling Hunter's request. One official reportedly said: "I want to be careful about promising too much."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed the president did not know that Hunter had reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Italy when he was vice president on Burisma's behalf.

"He's not in business with his son," said Jean-Pierre. "He's certainly not aware of this and this is something that Hunter Biden has to speak to. He's a private citizen, it is something for him to focus on."