SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says during his decades in public office he has never talked to any family members about their private business dealings.

And the former vice-president promises “an absolute wall” between government and his family’s financial interests should he be elected president.

Biden’s remarks Wednesday follow scrutiny and Republican criticism of the business activities of his son Hunter and his brother James.

Politico reported earlier this year that Hunter and James Biden sometimes tried to leverage Joe Biden’s political ties to attract investors for a hedge fund. President Donald Trump’s associates have highlighted Hunter Biden’s service on the board of an energy firm owned by a Ukrainian oligarch.

Biden’s campaign says Trump simply wants to deflect from his own conflicts of interest from foreign business deals.