Hunter Biden's paintings have sold for a total of $1.5 million – The Washington Post

Georges Bergès, an art gallery owner who gave small-dollar donations about 20 times to Donald Trump in 2020, signed an agreement shortly after that year’s election to take on an unusual task: representing Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Joe Biden, who was pursuing a nascent career as an artist.

The agreement produced arrangements that drew concern from ethics experts and has now brought increasing scrutiny from House Republicans. A transcript from a House panel’s closed-door interview with Bergès, released this week, provides the most complete picture to date of Hunter Biden’s artwork, including when his paintings have been sold and for how much.

In total, there have been 10 buyers of the art, who have paid a sum of $1.5 million. Under their agreement, the gallerist received 40 percent of the sales while Biden took 60 percent.

Three of the buyers have been identified, while the other seven remain anonymous. The largest share of the work — 11 paintings, for a total of $875,000 — went to Kevin Morris, who has become one of Biden’s closest friends while also acting as an attorney and financial benefactor.

“I really like Hunter’s art,” Morris said, in a separate transcript released on Tuesday in which he was asked repeatedly by the committee about the roughly $5 million in loans he has made to Hunter. “And, you know, of course, he gets pilloried for it and, you know, all kinds of things said to him. The art is, in my view as an art collector, very good.”

Democratic donor Elizabeth Naftali bought two pieces of Biden’s, one for $52,000 and another for $42,000. President Biden appointed her in 2022 to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

William Jacques, an art collector whom Bergès described as a “really good friend” and part-owner of his gallery, bought four pieces for a total of $122,500.

There are seven other buyers, but they have remained anonymous, according to Bergès. He suggested that those purchasers were longtime collectors and customers of his.

Some Republicans and ethics experts have questioned whether buying Hunter Biden’s paintings could be a dubious way for individuals to curry favor with the White House, given that works of art are notoriously hard to value and the president’s son is not an established artist. Biden’s circle strongly denies this, saying the paintings have merit and that none of the purchasers want anything from the White House. They also note that most of them have remained anonymous, making it impossible for them to seek favors in exchange for their purchases.

Bergès entered into his arrangement with Hunter Biden in early December 2020, shortly after Joe Biden was elected president but before he was sworn in. Jacques purchased a painting for $40,000 that month, and one of the unidentified buyers also bought one.

In February 2021, Jacques purchased two more paintings for $25,000 each. Naftali purchased a painting titled “Mother and Daughter” that month for $42,000.

Jacques and Naftali did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. When her name was revealed as a buyer last year and she was questioned by House Republicans, Naftali’s attorney defended the purchases.

“Any insinuation that her purchase of art was unusual or somehow improper is entirely unsupported,” the lawyer, Jason Abel, wrote in a letter to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). “To be clear, Ms. Naftali purchased the artwork solely because she liked the art, and the prices were reasonable.”

He also said that she did not seek out a position on the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and that it came at the instigation not of the White House but of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “Any attempt to link Ms. Naftali’s art purchases to her appointment to the Commission is also baseless,” Abel wrote.

The House Judiciary and Oversight committees interviewed Bergès on Jan. 9 in a closed-door session led by a committee lawyer. The panels, which are conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Biden that has yielded little public evidence of wrongdoing, is scheduled to interview Hunter Biden on Feb. 28 after a lengthy back-and-forth over the terms.

Bergès was asked numerous times during his interview about White House involvement in his arrangement with the Georges Bergès Gallery as first described by The Washington Post in July 2021. The Post reported that White House attorneys, concerned about potential ethical issues, urged that any buyers of Hunter’s paintings be kept confidential, a practice that was adopted.

Bergès testified that he never spoke with anyone from the White House, and claimed that he was surprised to read reports about the arrangement. At the time, he did not respond to phone and email messages from The Post, but a person who said she was calling on behalf of Bergès confirmed to The Post that all sales would be kept secret from Hunter Biden.

Biden’s allies say that the public attention and the controversy around the art sales and gallery showings has dampened his ability to sell the paintings, with potential buyers worried that a purchase would invite subpoenas from House Republicans.

Bergès told the committees he chose to represent Biden after being inspired not only by his art but also the story behind it. Throughout the lengthy interview, the gallery owner repeatedly compared Biden, who has suffered from drug addiction and other personal difficulties, to Rocky Balboa, saying both are underdogs struggling for redemption.

“This is why we cheer for Rocky. Rocky is not supposed to win, but he wins,” Bergès said. “And that’s to me America. And Hunter is not supposed to win. He should be dead. And he faced a crossroad in his life, which we all do when we’re all struggling with things in our lives. And he could have chosen the easy path, which is to keep going and die, or do the hard thing, which is to change.”

At one point, a questioner challenged that image of Biden as an underdog, noting that he is the son of a powerful politician, has degrees from Georgetown and Yale universities, and has made millions as a consultant.

Bergès said that while he and Biden have become friendly, he let the contract lapse last year. “From a business perspective, it hasn’t been the best decision for me,” Bergès said, citing security issues, death threats and assumptions about his political affiliations.

“It was a little bit more than I could chew, that obviously I kind of wanted my life back,” he said.

Bergès’s testimony comes as the committee accelerates its interviews in an attempt to zero in on Biden ahead of the November election.

Morris, who appeared before the committee last week, testified that he met Hunter Biden at a fundraiser in November 2019. Morris said he viewed Hunter as someone in need, emerging from addiction and facing a media firestorm.

“I basically found him like a guy getting the crap beat out of him in a — by a gang of people,” he said. “And, you know, where we come from, you don’t let that happen. You get in and you start swinging.”

They grew up not far from one another and from similar backgrounds, Morris said — “Irish, Catholic, lots of booze flying around” — and forged a quick connection. Morris agreed to represent Biden. He bought some of his art for $40,000. And soon he was agreeing to help him on his taxes, to pay his rent, and settle debts for his Porsche.

Morris declined to answer numerous questions about exactly how much he has loaned to Biden and for what purposes. But he said they have around five promissory notes, with interest, and the terms state that Biden needs to repay them starting in 2025.

When asked about other testimony that he had loaned Biden approximately $4.9 million between 2020 and 2022 to cover tax payments and personal expenditures, he replied that those figures were basically correct. He cast it as not a consequential amount of money for him, saying that it represents less than 5 percent of his assets.

“With respect to the loans, I am confident that Hunter will repay,” Morris said. “I did not and do not have any expectations of receiving anything from Hunter’s father or the Biden administration in exchange from helping Hunter, nor have I asked for anything from President Biden or his administration. My only goal was and is to help my friend and client.”

He said that he had met President Biden several times, including at the wedding of Naomi Biden, Hunter’s daughter. Hunter Biden also gave him a tour of the White House and, toward the end of the day, they saw President Biden.

“The president waved. And I think he said hi,” Morris said. “He always makes jokes about my hair. I think he made a crack about my hair. That was it.”