Ahead of opening statements in Hunter Biden’s gun possession trial, which are expected on Tuesday, his father released a statement that illustrated the fine line he is trying to walk in the midst of his re-election campaign.
“I am the president, but I am also a dad,” said President Joe Biden as jury selection began on Monday.
His statement went on to express support for his son, who could face up to 25 years in prison for allegedly lying about his drug addiction when filling out background documents for a 2018 handgun purchase.
“As president, I don’t and won’t comment on pending federal cases,” he continued. “But as a dad, I have boundless love for my son, confidence in him and respect for his strength.”
Hunter Biden’s struggles with drug addiction are common knowledge at this point. He has discussed them publicly and written about them in his memoir - revelations that will soon act as evidence in his trial and fodder for public consumption.
Joe Biden has previously publicly addressed his son’s tumultuous personal life. In the first presidential debate with Donald Trump in 2020, he said he was “proud” of his only surviving son.
“My son, like a lot of people you know at home, had a drug problem,” he said. “He’s overtaken it. He’s fixed it. He’s worked on it.”
Four years ago, President Biden was responding to Trump’s attacks on the debate stage. Now, however, his statement could be an attempt to defuse what is shaping up to be a politically fraught moment, where his son’s troubled past - and, by extension, that of the entire Biden family - will be on full display.
The struggles and scandals of Hunter Biden
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, is expected to testify about her former husband’s drug habit. Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother Beau - with whom Hunter would later be romantically involved and who discarded the handgun in question in a Delaware bin - is also on the prosecution’s list of witnesses.
“It’s definitely not a good look,” says Kate Andersen Brower, who has written several books on US presidents, their families and first ladies. She says presidents have had to deal with family turmoil in the past. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter faced sibling embarrassments, for instance.
For a president’s child to face a criminal trial is completely unprecedented, however, and it has left the elder Biden walking a tightrope.
He spent time with his son in Delaware this weekend, and he stayed in Wilmington - where the trial will take place - on Sunday night. During jury selection on Monday, the Biden family was well represented.
But the president had already returned to Washington by then. While he has noted his support for his son, he is also keeping his distance from the case itself.
But First Lady Jill Biden attended and sat behind Hunter. The two embraced during a morning break in court proceedings and again after the day concluded. She was joined by Hunter’s current wife, Melissa Cohen Biden - who held his hand as he walked out of court - and his half-sister, Ashley Biden, and her husband.
Jill Biden married the president after his first wife, Hunter Biden’s mother, died in a 1972 car accident in which Hunter and Beau were injured. The accident also took the life of their infant sister, Naomi.
The president regularly speaks about the closeness of his family - and has made this devotion part of his political identity.
He talks about how he would take the train home from Washington to Delaware each night as a US senator so he could say goodnight to his children. He wrote a book about dealing with grief following Beau Biden’s death from brain cancer in 2016 and has discussed the emotional trauma he experienced in the aftermath of his first wife’s passing.
