The son of the US vice president at the time reportedly sought State Department support for Burisma's dealings in Italy

Hunter Biden requested assistance from a US State Department official on behalf of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president in the Obama administration, the New York Times has reported, citing released federal files.

In 2016, Hunter wrote a letter to the American ambassador to Rome, John Phillips, where he openly asked him to help arrange a meeting between Burisma representatives and the governor of the Italian region of Tuscany, the NYT said, citing the published document. The Ukrainian gas producer he was working for at the time had licensing issues for a project in the area, the paper reported.

Hunter was hired by Burisma to serve on its board in 2014, soon after the Maidan coup in Kiev in which the government of President Viktor Yanukovich was overthrown. He served in this capacity until 2019.

In the document, which included Burisma's letterhead, Biden asked the ambassador for "support and guidance in arranging [the] meeting." In his response, which was also published by the NYT, the ambassador said he had a "good working relationship" with the governor, and that he asked a "senior commercial officer" at the embassy to "facilitate contact" with the Italian authorities.

Hunter did not mention his father in his letter but pointed to a personal meeting he had with Phillips during a Biden family trip to Rome over the Thanksgiving holiday in 2015, the NYT reported.

According to the newspaper, the request resulted in nothing and the meeting never took place. A lawyer for Hunter Biden previously described the letter as a "proper request." Phillips claimed he did not recall the letter, and Burisma did not comment on the report, according to the NYT.

Hunter's dealings with the energy company have long been the subject of controversy. Former business partner Devon Archer previously testified to the Republican-led House Oversight Committee that Hunter had personally asked his father to disrupt the Ukrainian investigation into Burisma.

Joe Biden publicly claimed he was responsible for the dismissal of Ukrainian Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the company. However, he denied that he accepted bribes or had any knowledge of his son's foreign business dealings.