Hunter Biden says he didn't realize his work with Ukrainian energy company Burisma would become a political liability for his dad

• Hunter Biden said he didn't realize that his job with Burisma would attract so much attention.
• Joe Biden's son told the BBC he didn't think at the time of "the perception that I would create."
• Republicans had seized on that role to attack Joe Biden and the Democrats.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Hunter Biden says he didn't realize that his position on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma would become a political liability for his dad.

President Joe Biden's son told the BBC that he had "missed ... the perception that I would create."

"I know that it is hard to believe with 20/20 hindsight how I could possibly have missed that," he said.

He said that the company saw his name "as gold" and that played a role in his hiring.

He also said that his dad's name had "opened doors that wouldn't be opened up to other people," and called this "both a privilege and a burden."

Hunter Biden's work with Burisma has become a frequent target of Republicans, though they have not found evidence of wrongdoing.

Former President Donald Trump's fixture on the role also led to his first impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Trump called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in July 2019, and the White House transcript of the call showed Trump asking Zelensky to look into the Bidens' activities.

He asked Zelensky to "look into" the Bidens. The phone call took place when Joe Biden was a frontrunner to secure the Democratic presidential nomination and run against him in the 2020 election.

The House voted to impeach him in December 2019, though the Senate aquitted him.