Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump crying foul on media reaction to Hunter Biden as father pushes corruption claim

WASHINGTON – While President Donald Trump rails against the Biden family with a claim at the center of the Ukraine whistleblower controversy, Trump's sons are taking aim at the news media's reaction to Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.

Eric Trump wrote in an op-ed that there is a double standard in the treatment of Hunter Biden when compared to the Trump children.

"If the situation were reversed, I would have been front page news in every newspaper, online publication, and cable news outlet for the rest of my life," Eric Trump wrote in The Hill on Thursday. "Reporters would be camping outside of my door, my family would have been picked apart, my name would have been smeared in the news every single week, and my father arguably would not even be president of the United States today."

Trump and his political allies have, without credible evidence, pushed the allegation that former Vice President Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire a top prosecutor who was investigating a natural gas company linked to Hunter Biden.

The prosecutor in question, Viktor Shokin, was considered by the United States and other international groups to be ineffective at combating corruption in Ukraine. And Shokin's inquiry into the gas company focused on a time period before Hunter Biden joined Burisma Holdings.

Explainer: Biden, allies pushed out Ukrainian prosecutor because he didn't pursue corruption cases

Joe Biden denies that he or his son Hunter engaged in any wrongdoing. He has repeatedly pointed to news reports that have found no evidence of Trump's claims.

"He's a fine man. He's been through hell," Joe Biden said of his son in an interview with the Reno Gazette Journal.

An impeachment inquiry into the president is focusing on a whistleblower's claim that Trump put pressure on Ukraine's president to investigate the Bidens.

Eric Trump criticized the media for its coverage of the Eric Trump Foundation, later renamed Curetivity, which raised millions of dollars for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital over several years. A Forbes report he cites found that Eric Trump had lied about some of his organization's expenses and profited off the charity.

"But can you imagine, if they were willing to try and destroy a 'kid' who dedicated his life to pediatric cancer and philanthropy, what the media would say if I had secured a $50,000 a month job on the board of a Ukrainian company, with no discernible duties, in an industry I knew nothing about, in a country where I did not even speak the language?" Eric Trump wrote.

"What if my father on live camera threatened to cut off military aid to that country unless the prosecutor investigating that company for corruption was fired?," he continued.

Donald Trump Jr., too, says that the media coverage has been hypocritical.

"If I went to China and I did that... and I came back with $1.50—not $1.5 billion—$1.50, we would solve the media problem because their heads would explode, there'd be no fake news media left," Trump Jr. said on Fox News.

The Trump brothers are in charge of the Trump Organization in a position they have held since their father was inaugurated, though Donald Trump still holds an ownership stake in the company.

Read More: Did Trump keep his 19 promises to insulate himself from his business? Only he knows.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eric and Don Jr: Hunter Biden treatment in Ukraine controversy unfair