EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker arrested for vandalizing art gallery where Hunter Biden’s art will be displayed by spray painting ‘daddy’ on the windows and throwing money on the floor
- Rod Webber was taken down by the NYPD at the Georges Berges Gallery in Soho
- His arrest comes hours after the White House defended Hunter’s right to pursue a career in art
- Ethics experts thing his art deals could lead to influence peddling
A man claiming to be an artist vandalized the Soho gallery Friday where Hunter Biden is having an art show with paintings going for as much as $500,000.
The man, who identified himself as Rod Webber, was removed from the gallery by NYPD officers after spray painting ‘Daddy’ on the wall of the upscale gallery. Witnesses told DailyMail.com he also threw a pile of bills onto the floor of the gallery.
It came on a day when the White House at the daily press briefing publicly defended Hunter Biden’s right to produce his art and sell it on the open market.
The cash remained on the floor until police removed him.
One witness said Webber had intended to write ‘Daddy War Crimes,’ before he was stopped – a claim Webber would later repeat. The witness said a gallery staff member slammed Webber to the floor before he could complete his protest, and that it was not police who did the take-down.
Webber was wearing paint-splattered pants.
As police officers removed him from the scene, Webber said he wrote ‘Daddy War crimes with hair spray – which washes off like any sidewalk art’ – although ‘Daddy’ was all that could be seen on the wall. A staff member could be seen painting over it shortly after the incident ended.
Asked by DailyMail.com why he vandalized the gallery as he was being led to a squad car, Webber yelled out: ‘Because Hunter Biden is helping to launder money for his godfather. That’s why Daddy War Crimes were the words on the wall.’
A filmmaker has been arrested for spray-painting ‘daddy’ at the New York art gallery where Hunter Biden’s paintings will be displayed
Rod Webber was taken down at the Georges Berges Gallery in Soho on Wednesday afternoon
‘Biden is here to launder money for the oligarchs and to do business for his masters to hurt brown people across the other side of the globe,’ he continued in his rant.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Hunter Biden had a ‘right to pursue an artistic career,’ as she tried on Friday to justify the administration’s role in brokering arrangements for the sale of his paintings.
It followed revelations that the White House helped set up a deal for buyers’ identities to remain hidden to ensure they did not win presidential favors.
This White House has frequently promised full transparency in pursuit of the highest ethical standards. Now that means secrecy.
‘I think it would be challenging for an anonymous person, who we don’t know and Hunter Biden doesn’t know, to have influence,’ said Psaki during her daily briefing.
The plan will allow Hunter Biden to forge ahead with his new life as an artist after a career change from high-paid consultant on international deals.
The deal came about after Biden administration staffers reached out to Hunter’s lawyers to forge a plan intended to ‘avoid’ ethics concerns and let the president’s son pursue his new career.
Psaki confirmed that the White House had been involved.
‘Of course he has the right to pursue an artistic career just like any child of a president has the right to pursue a career, but all interactions regarding the selling of art and the setting of prices will be handled by a professional gallerist, adhering to the highest industry standards, and any offer out of the normal course would be rejected out of hand,’ she said.
‘And the gallerist will not share information about buyers or prospective buyers, including their identities with Hunter Biden or the administration, which provides quite a level of protection and transparency.’
Hunter Biden’s artworks could sell for as much as $500,000 raising questions about whether buyers will think their money is buying access or favors. The White House says it was involved in making arrangements to keep their identities hidden from officials and to ensure the gallerist would not accept inflated bids
He also threw money on the floor when he walked in, and was then arrested
This Biden art work is titled ‘Self portrait’ and is a mix media work on paper that measures 48in x 32in
This artwork by Biden is untitled but measures 24in x 48in and was created on sheet metal. His art dealer has priced Biden’s artworks between $75,000 and $500,000
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