Biden's debate stumble: He raises issue of corruption allegations himself

President Donald J. Trump and Joe Biden at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. (C-SPAN video screenshot)

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, during Thursday's debate with President Donald Trump, hesitated, but then went ahead and did it.

He made the unfounded charge that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was being used as an "agent" of Russia to spread disinformation.

That, of course, was the opening for which the president was waiting: to confront Biden about the millions of dollars his son Hunter Biden was getting from Russia, China, Ukraine and other nations. And what about the money that was being held for "the big guy," which a former partner of his son has identified as Joe Biden?

The new evidence from an abandoned laptop now in the possession of the FBI and two former business partners indicating the Democratic nominee profited from Hunter Biden's lucrative business deals emerged last week.

"I think you owe an explanation to the American people," the president charged. "Maybe you can do it now."

Biden then claimed: "I have not taken a penny from any foreign source in my life. I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever ever."

Trump described the Biden family as a "vacuum cleaner," sucking up money from nefarious overseas business deals.

Biden denied there was anything wrong with his son getting paid tens of thousands of dollars a month from Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company, an industry in which Hunter had no experience.

Should Biden have raised the issue of corruption during the debate?

The deal was made while Joe Biden was vice president for Barack Obama's administration and responsible for Ukraine policy. Even at the time, State Department officials raised concern about an apparent conflict of interest appearance because Burisma was under investigation for corruption and Joe Biden infamously demanded of Ukrainians that the prosecutor be fired. He threatened to withhold American aid if that did not happen.

See video of Joe Biden recalling how he successfully pressured Ukrainian officials to fire the prosecutor who was targeting Burisma:

Trump's campaign has pointed out the evidence that Hunter Biden's firm got $3.5 million from Russian billionaire Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow; that Hunter Biden also opened a joint bank account with a Chinese national linked to the communist government; and while "Joe Biden advocated for legislation favored by big banks that made it harder for struggling Americans to declare bankruptcy, Biden’s son Hunter was 'earning' hundreds of thousands of dollars in 'consultant fees' from one of those banks, MBNA."

The campaign released a long list of additional conflict-of-interest concerns involving Biden and his family members.

"While Biden was vice president, his son Hunter joined him on Air Force Two for a trip to China. While in Beijing he arranged for his Chinese business partner to meet his father. Ten days after the trip, Hunter’s firm received an approval from the Chinese government-owned Bank of China that paved the way for more than a billion dollars in business for Hunter’s firm," the report said.

Trump confronted Biden for trying to dismiss the scandals as Russian disinformation.

"The laptop is another Russia hoax?" Trump asked, alluding to the Obama administration's Trump-Russia collusion probe. "Russia, Russia, Russia."

The first question of the debate was on the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump argued the 220,000 who have died is far less than the model he was presented with that estimated more than 2 million Americans could die.

He emphasized that the virus came from China, that the U.S. has been more successful than many nations and a vaccine is coming soon.

Biden blamed Trump personally for the American deaths, charging, "Anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States."

He did not explain how the president could be held personally responsible for the deaths caused by a worldwide pandemic.

He also did not explain how he would have done things differently.

Trump noted Biden called him "xenophobic" in January when he restricted travel from China.

Biden said that if elected, he would shut down the virus, but not the country. He didn't explain. He did confirm he supported closing down parts of the economy.

Trump charged Democratic governors are the ones who have closed down economies, hurting businesses and the public alike.

The debate at Belmont University in Nashville was moderated by NBC's Kristen Welker, who was accused by the president of being biased against him. After the debate was underway, however, Trump, complimented her.

Other questions included health care, crime and immigration.

The debate came at a time in American political life that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich described as being like none other.

He cited the establishment media's dismissal of the scandal of the "corrupt Biden family" and the censoring of the story by Facebook and Twitter.

Gingrich noted there's evidence that Biden was paid $911,000 from an institute at the University of Pennsylvania that was funded by China.

"Does this mean the vice president was on the Chinese communist payroll between leaving office and running for president?" Gingrich asked.

The debate was expected to impact only a small fraction of voters. Estimates are that 43 million already had voted before the debate and most have made up their minds.

The Washington Examiner reported that one of Hunter Biden's former business partners revealed a web of foreign figures, "all of whom trade off access to the former vice president or off the Biden family name."

Hundreds of files were given to the Examiner showed the proposed deals included "unique benefits" of working with the Bidens.

The Biden campaign has claimed Hunter Biden laptop story is Russian disinformation.

However, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has stated the intelligence agencies have no evidence to back that claim.

Further, the campaign has not denied the authenticity of the emails on which the accusations are based.

"One email included in the trove, sent to the younger Biden on May 13, 2017, after his father had left office, contained details of 'remuneration packages' for a deal with a Chinese energy company, including "10 held by H for the big guy" — which many interpreted as referring to shares held by Hunter Biden for his father, Joe," the Examiner said.

Prior to the debate, the Trump campaign backed up its claim of media bias by posting a full version of the president's interview with Lesley Stahl of "60 Minutes."