Hunter Biden is destroying his father’s reelection hopes 

Hunter Biden seems to have substituted an addiction to attention for his nasty drug habit.  

The drama queen, long in the shadow of older brother Beau, constantly sows chaos and seeks headlines, perhaps in some misguided attempt to win his father’s heart and devotion. In reality, Hunter’s antics are destroying his family and his father’s cherished dream of reelection.  

Every time Hunter dominates the news cycle, voters are reminded of his shady business dealings in China and Ukraine, indictments on tax cheating and an illegal gun purchase, as well as alleged influence peddling — and of his father’s evident involvement. That Joe Biden was party to and may have profited from those activities has already corroded the president’s image; when he first took office, most voters considered the president honest, but that is no longer the case.  

An AP poll from last fall indicates nearly two-thirds of the country thinks the president has acted illegally or unethically in connection with his son’s dealings.  

Just recently, Hunter turned up unexpectedly and uninvited to a House hearing that was debating whether he should be held in contempt of Congress for not complying with two legal subpoenas issued earlier. Hunter was accompanied by his lawyers and left just before Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) was to speak in favor of the contempt motion. 

The White House press corps went into overdrive, of course; with President Biden having zero items on his public schedule, they had little else to occupy them. In the end, the committee voted to charge Hunter with contempt. 

The House Oversight Committee, headed by Rep. James Comer (R-Tenn.), had issued a subpoena demanding Hunter Biden answer questions about his overseas business affairs and purported influence peddling. That committee has painstakingly assembled considerable evidence — bank records, eyewitness testimony from Hunter’s associates, emails and texts — that purports to show Joe Biden participated in and likely profited from his son’s activities in China and Ukraine, which the president has denied. That committee, now engaged in an official impeachment inquiry, wanted to question Hunter under oath and behind closed doors. The Judiciary Committee had also subpoenaed the president’s son.  

Hunter thumbed his nose at Congress and defied both subpoenas. Instead, he showed up on the Senate side of the Capitol grounds (safe from the House Sargeant at Arms) on Dec. 13, where he denounced the GOP-led investigation and insisted he was available for a public hearing, but not the required closed-door deposition. He played to the cameras, whining that; “For six years, I’ve been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine shouting, ‘Where’s Hunter?’ Well, here’s my answer. I am here.” 

Hunter also took the opportunity to defend his father, saying: “Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business — Not as a practicing lawyer. Not as a board member of Burisma, not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman, not my investment at all nor abroad, and certainly not as an artist.”   

House Democrats leaped to Hunter’s defense, claiming his right to prefer a public forum and denying their GOP colleagues had demonstrated any wrongdoing by the president or his son.  Hunter’s grandstanding was guaranteed to get a lot of attention, but it didn’t go well; the very day that he defied the subpoenas, House Republicans voted in favor of a formal impeachment inquiry into his father.   

These performances are all part of a new and aggressive stance adopted last February by Hunter’s lawyers, who apparently think, with no evidence, that Hunter can become a sympathetic character. The fact is, in a rare instance of bipartisanship, Americans of all stripes dislike Hunter Biden.  

The more pugnacious stance coincided with House Republicans beginning an investigation into Hunter’s activities, as well as his hiring of Abbe Lowell, known for his confrontational and litigious style.  

Lowell tried to turn the tables last year, showily calling for investigations into the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, threatening defamation lawsuits and other measures meant to intimidate Hunter’s critics and get them to back off their investigations of the former drug addict. At the time, the Washington Post reported that, “Those close to President Biden and the White House have preferred a more conservative approach.”   

No kidding. The tactics invited not only ridicule but seemed to undermine Hunter’s position.  

For instance, the legal team sued the owner of the computer repair store where Hunter left his infamous laptop, saying he had accessed confidential information contained on the hard drive. That of course made it impossible to argue that the laptop did not belong to Hunter or that the information was false.   

It isn’t just recently that the Second Son has attracted unnecessary attention. He engaged in a lengthy and embarrassing battle with Lunden Roberts, mother of Hunter’s love child, Navy Joan Roberts, over child support. Roberts initially filed for child support in 2019 and to establish paternity, which Hunter initially resisted. The matter was settled in March 2020, with Hunter agreeing to pay $20,000 per month. 

In late 2022 Hunter sued to get those payments reduced, even though he must have known the case would subject his finances to even more scrutiny. The dispute also became a major embarrassment for his father, who claims to be a dedicated family man but only acknowledged his seventh grandchild as a result of shaming by loyalists in the press like Maureen Dowd.  

Queen Elizabeth confides touchingly to Prince William in The Crown that “It isn’t easy being number two,” reflecting on Prince Harry’s various scrapes. That may be true, but it’s no excuse for Hunter’s behavior. While he plays the victim card, most of us see him as a spoiled brat, trading on his father’s career and now undermining his prospects. The White House should do everything possible to keep him away from the public.  

Unfortunately for President Biden, it does not appear he can control Hunter one bit. 

Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.