Hunter Biden sought State Department assistance for foreign company while Joe was VP: report

Hunter Biden reportedly sought assistance from the U.S. government for a lucrative energy project in Italy when President Biden was serving as vice president, highlighting allegations that he used his father's political standing as leverage for his foreign business interests. 

The younger Biden wrote at least one letter to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016 seeking assistance for the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, where he was a board member, according to newly released records and interviews cited by the New York Times.

The response was lukewarm, as officials were somewhat hesitant to help with a request from the son of a sitting vice president on behalf of a foreign company. 

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"This is a Ukrainian company and, purely to protect ourselves, U.S.G. should not be actively advocating with the government of Italy without the company going through the D.O.C. Advocacy Center," an official wrote. 

The acronyms refer to the United States government and a Department of Commerce program that supports American companies that seek business with foreign governments.

"I want to be careful about promising too much," wrote a Commerce Department official based in the U.S. Embassy in Rome who responded. 

Hunter Biden asked several people if they could arrange an introduction between Burisma and the president of the Tuscany region of Italy, where Burisma was pursuing a geothermal project, Abbe Lowell, Biden's lawyer, said. 

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He said no meeting had occurred.  

"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," 

In a statement to the Times, Lowell said the outreach by Biden was a "proper request."

President Biden wasn't aware that his son reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Italy on behalf of Burisma when he was vice president, the White House said. 

Hunter Biden has not been charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, which requires people to disclose when they lobby the U.S. government on behalf of foreign interests.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department and the White House.