New photos and video show Hunter Biden rubbing shoulders with celebrities and wealthy art patrons at a pop-up exhibition of his artwork in Los Angeles — as the novice’s new career raises ethical questions that buyers will will pay inflated prices for his fledgling attempts at art to curry influence with his powerful father.
President Biden’s son grinned broadly as he bumped fists with boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, who put his other arm around Hunter Biden’s shoulders in a snapshot posted online by the Daily Mail.
The scandal-scarred Biden scion has been involved in influence peddling in the past, most notably in foreign dealings and lucrative work with Chinese and Ukrainian energy companies, which The Post revealed in a series of exposés last October to implicate Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden wore a dark-blue, Western-style denim shirt and skinny black jeans as he mingled with the crowd of about 200 people, the photos show.
He was joined at the event by his wife, Melissa, and two of his daughters, Naomi Biden, 27, and Maisy Biden, 20, according to the Mail.
About 200 people attended the Friday event at Hollywood’s Milk Studios, which typically hosts photo and video shoots, Mother Jones reported earlier.
Other guests included LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, whose nomination to serve as President Biden’s ambassador to India in stalled in the US Senate, as well as musician Moby and artist Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic “Hope” poster for former President Barack Obama’s winning 2008 campaign.
Another opening is scheduled later this month at the Georges Berges Gallery in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood.
Hunter Biden’s paintings — which he created after embarking on a career as a self-taught artist — are being offered for sale at prices up to $500,000 each, with the huge price tags sparking concerns that purchasers could also gain influence over his dad.
“The whole thing is a really bad idea,” Richard Painter, who was chief ethics lawyer for then-President George W. Bush, told the Washington Post in July.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said that an agreement with gallery owner Berges will ensure that all buyers remain anonymous and that neither the White House nor Hunter Biden would know their names.
Psaki also claimed that the first son was “not going to discuss anything related to the selling of art” at either of his unprecedented solo shows.
Last month, US Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) sent a letter to Berges demanding that he provide the House Oversight Committee with a copy of his agreement with the White House and the identities of anyone who buys Hunter Biden’s art or attends his openings.
”This investigation, which includes your gallery’s role in Mr. Biden’s plans, is meant to prevent fairly obvious opportunities for an ethical or national security breach,” Comer wrote.
Meanwhile, Hunter Biden sparked fresh controversy this week when the White House declined to say Monday whether he still held a 10 percent stake in a Chinese private equity firm that’s controlled by the state-run Bank of China.
“He’s been working to wind that down,” Psaki said during a tense exchange with a reporter for Newsmax.
“Beyond that, I would talk to his representatives.”
During a Tuesday appearance on “Fox & Friends First,” Comer accused the White House of covering for the president’s scandal-scarred son.
“The fact that Jen Psaki couldn’t say ‘Yes, Hunter Biden divested his stake in that Chinese holding’ tells me that he probably still owns it,” Comer said.