Well, at least he’s modest.
First son Hunter Biden said in a rare interview published Monday that him staying clean is vital because “I have something much bigger than even myself at stake.”
“We are in the middle of a fight for the future of democracy,” the twice-indicted 54-year-old added to Axios while discussing his health’s effect on his father’s likely 2024 election battle against former President Donald Trump.
“You have to believe that you’re worth the work, or you’ll never be able to get sober. But I often do think of the profound consequences of failure here,” the younger Biden told the outlet.
“Maybe it’s the ultimate test for a recovering addict — I don’t know,” he went on. “I have always been in awe of people who have stayed clean and sober through tragedies and obstacles few people ever face. They are my heroes, my inspiration.”
Hunter has used his battle with drug addiction as part of his defense strategy against two federal indictments and a House impeachment inquiry into his 81-year-old father, arguing in op-eds and statements to the press that his illness had been weaponized by his dad’s political enemies.
“In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that is grounds for [an] impeachment inquiry is beyond absurd,” he told reporters after dodging a subpoena to appear before the House Oversight Committee in December.
Hunter added that his father had never been “financially involved” in his foreign business dealings, which involved associates from Ukraine, China, Russia, Mexico and Kazakhstan who later paid six- and seven-figure sums to himself and first brother James Biden.
The first son surprised Oversight panel members the following month by showing up as they weighed a contempt of Congress vote against him — but he later agreed to sit for a closed-door transcribed interview on Wednesday.
The House impeachment inquiry has produced bank records and testimony confirming that Hunter and James Biden introduced then-Vice President Joe Biden to several foreign associates before striking the lucrative deals.
In two instances, the Oversight Committee was able to uncover checks that James wrote to his brother around the same time as the deals for loan repayments totaling $240,000.
The impeachment probe has focused on any benefits the president may have received due to his son and brother’s influence-peddling schemes abroad, while two federal investigations resulted in gun and tax fraud charges against Hunter in Delaware and Southern California, respectively.
Special counsel David Weiss initially presented a probation-only plea deal to the first son, which blew up in federal court this past July over questions about the scope of the immunity granted from other crimes potentially committed while Hunter was in the throes of his addiction.
The first son’s descent into crack cocaine abuse escalated following the May 2015 death of his brother, former Delaware attorney general Beau Biden, due to brain cancer, according to his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things.”
Hunter testified in court last July that he has been sober from alcohol and drugs since June 2019, when he met and married his second wife, Melissa Cohen, and a representative for his legal team confirmed to Axios that he has remained so since then.
According to the outlet, Hunter feels a responsibility to his father and family to “make it through that fight clean and sober, and I feel a responsibility to everyone struggling through their own recovery to succeed.”
“I don’t care whether you’re 10 years sober, two years sober, two months sober or 200 years sober — your brain at some level is always telling you there’s still one answer,” the younger Biden said.
“Embrace the state in which you came into recovery — which is that feeling of hopelessness which forces you into a choice,” he added. “And then understand that what is required is that you basically have to change everything.”