President Biden has privately expressed that he feels guilty about Hunter Biden’s legal troubles, telling close associates that he believes his son wouldn’t be facing federal indictments if he hadn’t run for office in 2020, according to a report.
“In private, no issue is more likely to anger or sadden President Biden than attacks on his son,” according to Axios, which describes people close to the 81-year-old president noticing that his “moods shift” when there is unpleasant news about Hunter.
Few in the president’s inner circle “feel free to discuss Hunter’s situation with the president” over fears that it could “prompt both fury and dejection,” according to the outlet.
The Justice Department investigation into the 53-year-old first son has also “strained” the president’s relationship with Attorney General Merrick Garland, the report notes, describing it as “frigid” after Special Counsel David Weiss brought criminal charges against Hunter for allegedly lying about his drug use when he bought a firearm and failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.
People close to the president have “fumed” at Garland for granting Weiss special counsel status to investigate Hunter and have likened the attorney general to former FBI Director James Comey, arguing that both are “obsessed with the appearance of having integrity rather than just trying to make the right decision,” according to the outlet.
Similar to the president’s claim, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell argued Monday that his client was indicted “because he is the son of the president.”
“Republicans … have tried and tried to say that President Biden has done something wrong. They can’t find a shred of evidence,” Lowell said during an interview with MSNBC. “What they’ve successfully done … is basically saying, ‘OK, I can’t get the president, so I’ll besmirch his son in a way that suggests that there’s something going on between the two of them.”
Last week, Biden alluded to the president’s grief over his legal woes, accusing The Post and other media outlets of trying to “kill” him to derail his father’s presidency.
“What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to kill me,” Biden said during an interview with podcaster and vegan techno DJ Moby, “knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle, and so therefore destroying a presidency in that way.”
The first son has been subpoenaed by House Republicans handling the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, with a closed-door deposition before lawmakers scheduled for Wednesday. It is unclear whether Hunter will show up for the deposition.
House Republicans are expected to vote on whether to formalize the impeachment inquiry on Wednesday.
Biden faces 17 years in prison if convicted on all nine counts, including three felonies, related to his alleged failure to pay taxes over a four-year period. He also faces a maximum of 25 years in prison on the three felony charges in the gun case.