“I’m proud of my son”: US President Joe Biden has never let go of his younger brother Hunter, struggling with federal justice, and whose past as a drug addict as well as former business relationships make him a recurring target of the Republican opposition.
Hunter Biden, 53, admitted to evading taxes and acquiring a firearm while a drug addict, both federal offenses.
“The President and the First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” the White House reacted laconicly on Tuesday.
Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s predecessor and who could be his rival again in 2024, immediately criticized a “broken” judicial system.
The billionaire, struggling with justice in several cases, has been targeting Hunter Biden for years. He had also mentioned his past as an alcoholic and drug addict during a debate against Joe Biden before the 2020 presidential election.
“My son, like a lot of people, had a drug problem. He fixed it and he worked on it, and I’m proud of my son,” retorted his Democratic opponent.
In public, Joe Biden talks little about Hunter while he constantly talks about his eldest son Beau – according to him, this darling son would have become president of the United States if he had not died in 2015 from cancer of the brain.
Hunter’s life appears to be a negative of that of this brother with whom he had a powerful bond – as can be forged by two little boys who are victims of a serious car accident in which their mother, Joe Biden’s first wife, and their little sister died in 1972.
Where Beau seemed destined for a national political destiny, Hunter had a lackluster career as a lawyer and businessman. Where his brother served in the army in Iraq, Joe Biden’s younger brother was discharged from the Navy Reserve in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.
In his book “Les Belles Choses”, published in 2021, Hunter Biden recounts the vodka drunk from the bottle, the night wanderings in search of crack around seedy convenience stores, the failed attempts at detoxification, a fleeting affair with the widow of his brother. ..
Of his father, he writes: “He never abandoned me, never ignored me, never judged me”. “At times his perseverance drove me mad.”
“It’s daddy. I was calling to tell you that I love you. I love you more than anything, man. You need to get help. I know you don’t know what to do. Me either”: here, according to the Fox News channel which broadcast it, is a voice message left by Joe Biden to his son in 2018.
Hunter Biden says he is now “clean.” Remarried and father of a little boy named Beau like his late brother, he converted to painting.
More than his personal life, it is his past affairs in China and in Ukraine above all, which today have earned him the strongest attacks from Republican parliamentarians.
They focus in particular on a lucrative post as administrator of the Ukrainian gas group Burisma, accepted by Hunter Biden when his father, vice-president, oversaw Washington’s policy towards Kiev.
“I didn’t do anything unethical,” Hunter Biden assured afterwards, adding, however, “I wouldn’t do it again.”
In recent months the youngest son, usually melted into the mass of the very united clan that the Bidens form, has seemed a little more visible.
He has been seen enjoying a walkabout during a trip by his father to Ireland or talking to guests at a state dinner in honor of French President Emmanuel Macron.
At the start of his book, the president’s son recounts how Donald Trump supporters used to wear T-shirts that read “Where’s Hunter?” to embarrass his father. “I’m here”, he writes, “I’m not going anywhere”.
20/06/2023 17:55:39 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP