Friends say Joe Biden is ‘consumed’ by the scandal around his son and is scared he will slip back into addiction, report claims
- Hunter Biden has reportedly told friends he might have to leave if Trump wins
- Insiders are also worried about the toll on his father, according to Politico
- They say the president is worried that Hunter could slip back into addiction
Hunter Biden has told friends that he might have to flee the country if Donald Trump is reelected, after already enduring months of deeply personal political attacks and mounting legal woes.
Republicans have put him front and center of their efforts to say his father acted corruptly when he was vice president.
And he could face almost 20 years in prison if convicted of three felony and six misdemeanor charges brought last week.
The result is an 81-year-old father desperately worried about the welfare of a son who has battled drink and drugs, and a son who fears more attacks if Trump wins in 2024.
Two sources, cited by Politico, said Hunter has told family friends that he expects to come under intense scrutiny during the election campaign and is considering leaving the United States if his father loses the election to the Republican frontrunner.
He recently went public with his worries.
‘What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to kill me, 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,’ he told the musician Moby during a podcast.
Trump has repeatedly jabbed at Hunter and reports suggest he would install a much harder line administration if he won reelection, staffed by ultra-loyalists ready to ride roughshod over legal and constitutional norms.
Meanwhile, confidants of the president say Biden is desperately worried about his son slipping back into addiction under the pressure.
‘You can see it in his eyes, and you can see his shoulders slump,’ said one. ‘He’s so worried about Hunter. And we’re worried it could consume him.’
Biden is in touch with his son on a daily basis and has built a support network to help, according to the news outlet, which spoke to a string of insiders.
‘I know when he hurts. He doesn’t talk about it much, most of us don’t,’ former Sen. Chris Dodd, who has close to Biden for more than 40 years, told the outlet.
‘He has a real human decency, and a lot of it is created by scarring. And he’s worried.’
Wednesday brought another day of high drama.
Republicans had set a deadline for the younger Biden to testify behind closed doors about his business affairs. But Hunter said he would only deliver his testimony in public and delivered a rare public speech in which he condemned their investigation, which he said was built on ‘distortions, manipulated evidence and lies.’
‘They have taken the light of my father’s love for me and done their best to turn it into darkness,’ he said. ‘They have no shame.’
The White House declined to get involved in the tussle other than to stress the president’s love for his son.
‘And I think what you saw was from the heart from his son, and you’ve heard … heard me say this, you’ve heard the president say this, when it comes to the president, the first lady, they are proud of him, continuing to rebuild his life,’ said Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
But she also revealed that the president was ‘familiar’ with what his son was going to say that morning, in a hint at their close communications.
Biden checks in on his son as part of his daily routine. And Hunter is a regular visitor to Camp David, the family home in Delaware and the White House.
That reflects the president’s impulse to draw Hunter closer to the family, according to insiders, even if it hands his critics an attack line.
Aides have stopped questioning the approach, the report said, after the president took issue with anyone pondering whether Hunter was an electoral liability.
For example, no-one asked whether it was a good idea to have a son facing prosecution at the state dinner for the Indian prime minister in June.