First lady Jill Biden said Thursday that congressional Republicans have been “cruel” to her stepson Hunter, one day after two House panels voted to advance contempt charges against the presidential scion.
“How have you been coping personally with the onslaught of accusations against your husband and your family, including and especially Hunter?” MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski asked the first lady in an interview on “Morning Joe.”
Brzezinski added that GOP lawmakers were “obsessing over” the first son after Hunter dodged a Dec. 13 subpoena to appear for a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight Committee about his overseas business dealings.
The cable news host also referenced a decision by far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) to display what Brzezinski described as “pictures of him during vulnerable moments in his battle with addiction” in a Wednesday hearing before the Oversight panel voted to hold Hunter in contempt of Congress.
“This would crush any family,” Brzezinski emphasized.
“I think what they are doing to Hunter is cruel,” Jill Biden responded. “And I’m really proud of how Hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction. You know, I love my son and it’s had — it’s hurt my grandchildren. And that’s what I’m so concerned about, that it’s affecting their lives as well.”
Hunter Biden paid a surprise visit to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday as they began considering a resolution to hold him in contempt — but exited the hearing as soon as Greene began to speak, calling him a “coward.”
The 53-year-old appeared with his so-called “sugar brother” Kevin Morris, a prominent Hollywood lawyer, and his personal attorney Abbe Lowell, who is representing the first son against two federal indictments for gun and tax crimes.
In court filings and op-eds, Hunter and his legal team have described both congressional investigations into his conduct and criminal charges against him as motivated by his years-long battle with alcohol and drug addiction.
The full House is expected to vote within days on referring the contempt charge against Hunter to his father’s Justice Department.
Two former Trump administration officials — Steve Bannnon and Peter Navarro — have been convicted by federal juries for flouting subpoenas from the House January 6th Select Committee and have since appealed their cases.
The House Ways and Means, Oversight and Judiciary Committees have led the investigation into Hunter Biden since Republicans retook the majority in January 2023, focusing on his influence-peddling schemes.
Hunter and James Biden, along with several other family members, received tens of millions of dollars in payments from entities in Mexico, Kazakhstan, China, Ukraine and Russia during and after Joe Biden’s time as vice president.
Devon Archer, a former business partner of the first son, told the Oversight Committee last year that then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke on the phone, met and dined with foreign nationals who did business with Hunter.
An FBI informant file released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last year also shows that the owner of Burisma Holdings claimed to have paid $10 million to Joe and Hunter Biden to quash an investigation of his natural gas company.
Evidence of Hunter’s hiring of prostitutes found on his abandoned laptop and in Treasury Department records have also tied the then-second son to human trafficking rings in Russia and Ukraine, according to Greene and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).
Two IRS whistleblowers also alleged that the five-year federal probe into the first son’s potentially illicit financial activity was interfered with by the Justice Department, resulting in a probation-only plea deal.
That deal blew up last year in Wilmington, Del., federal court after Hunter’s defense team refused to sign off on an agreement that would allow the first son to be charged for alleged crimes that took place before his father took office.
He is set to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in Los Angeles for tax fraud after missing his payments and instead splurging on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing,” and other items.
The House voted in December to authorize an impeachment investigation into the president but has yet to file articles alleging that he abused his office or improperly benefitted from his son’s lucrative foreign entanglements.