Everyone knew the question was coming : Why was it okay for Hunter Biden to have a business interest in Ukraine when, as vice president, Joe Biden was the Obama administration’s lead on that country? Biden largely demurred on the question.

“Look, my son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong,” Biden said.

“My son’s statement speaks for itself,” Biden said, before pivoting back to Trump. “What we have to do now is focus on Donald Trump. I’m proud of the judgment (Hunter) he made.”

The question had been guaranteed to come up early in this debate, the first since House Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry and the Trump campaign began firing back with television ads highlighting Hunter Biden’s former business dealings in the Ukraine and China.

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Hunter Biden hours earlier acknowledged he made a "mistake" and showed “poor judgement” in not calculating the political ramifications of joining the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company while his father had official business in the country as vice president. Speaking to ABC News, Hunter Biden denied doing anything "improper" in Ukraine.