Hunter Biden’s art career is back in the headlines. It turns out one of his collectors is a Democratic donor—a Los Angeles philanthropist and real estate investor named Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali who gave $13,414 to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and was later named to his Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
“Hunter Biden is a private citizen who is entitled to have his own career as an artist,” White House spokesperson Ian Sams told Insider, which broke the story. “We are not involved in his art sales, and any buyers of his art are not disclosed to the White House.”
The White House did not comment on the timeline regarding Hirsh Naftali’s purchase of Hunter Biden’s art and her July 2022 appointment by the president. (Biden’s first art show opened more than eight months earlier at Georges Bergès Gallery in New York.)
The show made headlines in part for the six-figure prices being charged for Hunter Biden’s paintings, which were as much $500,000 per canvas.
Installation view “Hunter Biden: The Journey Home” at Georges Bergès Gallery.
To avoid any potential attempts to curry favor with the president by purchasing his son’s art, the White House declared that the gallery would keep collectors’ identities confidential, even from Hunter Biden.
But Biden learned that Hirsh Naftali had bought his art because the two are friends, Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told Insider.
Positions on the commission, which is dedicated to preserving European historical sites, are unpaid, but are typically awarded to the president’s campaign donors, relatives, and political allies. Hirsh Naftali hosted a fundraiser with Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022, and gave $29,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee this year.
Hunter Biden with his father, Vice President Joe Biden, at the World Food Program USA’s Annual McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony on April 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. Photo by Teresa Kroeger/Getty Images for World Food Program USA.
It was Nancy Pelosi who recommended Hirsh Naftali for her government position, an administration official told Insider, citing the donor’s support of Jewish causes in Los Angeles and Israel as being helpful to the commission’s work.
An email from Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop suggests he had helped business associate Eric Schwerin get appointed to the commission during Barack Obama’s presidency.
The other known Hunter Biden collector is Kevin Morris, a Los Angeles lawyer who has also helped the artist financially, lending him some $2 million to pay off his taxes. (Biden pleaded guilty in June to two tax misdemeanors.)
The gallery ultimately reported $1.4 million in sales of Biden’s work, including one unidentified buyer who purchased 11 pieces for a total of $875,000.
House Republicans have mounted a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability investigation into the Biden family’s activities, including Hunter’s Biden’s art career. The president’s son’s former girlfriend, Lunden Roberts, also took legal action to unmask his collectors as part of a legal dispute regarding child support for their four-year-old daughter. The case settled last month.
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