Hunter Biden: 'I Don't Feed Bullies'

In an interview with ABC News airing Tuesday, Hunter Biden emerges from the low profile he's been keeping to defend himself and his father. The message he repeats: He has done nothing unethical in his overseas business dealings, particularly in his role on a Ukraine gas company's board. He says his only regret is making his father vulnerable to attacks from Rudy Giuliani and President Trump. Some key lines from the interview, which President Trump criticized in advance on Monday:

• In defense: "I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father," says Biden, 49. "That's where I made the mistake. So I take full responsibility for that. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever."

• Ukraine: "I joined a board, I served honorably. I did—I focused on corporate governance. I didn't have any discussions with my father before or after I joined the board as it related to it, other than that brief exchange that we had."
• Credentials: Addressing claims he was unqualified: "I was vice chairman of the board of Amtrak for five years. I was the chairman of the board of the UN World Food Program. I was a lawyer for Boies Schiller Flexner, one of the most prestigious law firms in—in the world. I think that I had as much knowledge as anybody else that was on the board—if not more."
• Trumps: "I don't feed bullies," he says of the president. He also brushes off attacks from Trump's sons. "I don't spend a lot of time thinking about them. ... What they do is they create just an enormous amount of noise. I have to then answer questions—about accusations made by probably the most unethical group of people that we've ever seen in this republic," Biden said. "They're out of a B movie. ... Donald 'Prince Humperdinck' Trump Jr. is not somebody that I really care about." (The latter is apparently a Princess Bride reference.)
• Sobriety struggles: “Like every single person that I've ever known, I have fallen and I've gotten up. I've done esteemable things and things that are—have been in my life that I—that—that I regret. Every single one of those things has brought me exactly to where I am right now, which is probably the best place I've ever been in my life."

(More Hunter Biden stories.)