Biden finally breaks silence on son Hunter's laptop

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has steadfastly refused to talk about reports concerning his son Hunter's laptop, which allegedly contains emails that detail his businesses dealings with energy company in Ukraine and China.

But the former vice president finally broke his silence while doing an interview from his Delaware home with a Wisconsin TV station.

Biden blasted a Republican senator who is using a Senate committee he chairs to probe Hunter Biden and ripped President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for peddling "garbage."

"This is the same garbage – Rudy Giuliani Trump's henchmen. It's a last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family," Biden said on WISN.

Reporter Adrienne Pedersen said to Biden: "Wisconsin's Republican Senator Ron Johnson put out a statement – on Homeland Security letterhead – saying Hunter Biden, together with other Biden family members, profited off the Biden name." She asked Biden if there was any "legitimacy" to the claims.

"None whatsoever!" Biden said emphatically.

Biden said Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) has criticized Johnson's move.

"Even the man who served with him on that committee, the former nominee for the Republican Party, said there's no basis to this," Biden said. "And the vast majority of the intelligence people have come out and said there's no basis at all. Ron should be ashamed of himself!"

On Monday, there were two big developments in the last 24 hours. First, Fox News got a hold of a receipt from the laptop repair shop that allegedly shows the name and signature of Hunter Biden, whose father, Joe Biden, is the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee and a former vice president.

"Documents appear to show Hunter Biden's signature on a receipt for $85 at a Delaware computer shop where he dropped off laptops that included details of his international business deals," The Daily Mail reported.

And second, a spokesman for the Biden campaign said nobody on the campaign is claiming the emails reportedly on the laptop are "inauthentic."

Last week, the New York Post published emails that appear to show that Hunter Biden in 2015 set up a meeting between an official with the Ukraine energy company Burisma Holdings and his father, who was vice president at the time. The Biden presidential campaign said they had no record of such a meeting, but couldn't rule out an informal meeting.

"One email, dated May 13, 2017, and obtained by Fox News, includes a discussion of 'remuneration packages' for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Hunter Biden as 'Chair/ Vice Chair depending on an agreement with CEFC,' in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co," Fox News reported.

The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details, Fox reported.

House Republicans on Monday urged Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to probe allegations involving Joe Biden's participation in his son Hunter Biden's Ukraine business dealings. And President Trump made a similar request of Barr on Tuesday.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN last week: 'We know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin."

But Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said Monday that charge is false. "Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," Ratcliffe told Fox News.