It’s been a great week for Joe Biden. The man who ran against Donald Trump in the November US presidential election was ousted by his party’s biggest beasts during the virtual Democratic national convention.
Hillary Clinton praised ‘honest Joe’ for ‘full dignity and was dedicated to his family and country’, while Barack Obama – under whom Biden served as vice president for eight years – called him his ‘brother’ and said the whole future of America depended on voters voting ‘worthy Joe’ at the ballot box.
Reason after speech drew on the heartbreaking story of how Biden’s first wife and daughter were killed in a car accident and how his eldest son Beau died of a brain tumor to repatriate the message that here is a man who a deeply divided can heal and rebuild America just as he rebuilt his own life after seemingly insurmountable tragedy.
The black sheep of the Hunter Biden family, 50, (L) is described as’ Achilles’ heel of his father ‘in presidential bid
Yet one name was conspicuously exaggerated in honor. That of Biden’s surviving son Hunter. Except for a short video of an immersed Hunter, 50, introducing a screaming segment about Beau, he remained stiff in the shadows.
And for good reason.
For Hunter Biden is described as ‘Achillesheak’ by his father, a drunken, drug-addicted black sheep, who has at least one child out of wedlock, while lying in his own pockets with a shameful business deal, with the good name and politics of his father connections for his own gain. At one point, Hunter even dated his widow from his dead brother.
Of course, Biden is not the first man to offer to be the leader of the free world humiliated by a rude family member.
Peanut-growing President Jimmy Carter’s ‘redneck’ brother Billy received $ 250,000 (£ 190,000) from America’s sworn enemy Libya and urinated at an airport airport in full view of the press and dignity.
Then there was Billwardon’s male sibling Roger, who served time for cocaine possession, drug trafficking and drink driving.
Now Hunter has become the main target for those trying to dismiss his father’s run for the White House.
For weeks, Trump has been asking ‘Where’s Hunter?’ Last week, his campaign launched a shocking two-minute ad called ‘Joe Won’t Stand Up For Us’, which repeats accusations that Hunter abused Obama’s position as vice president to earn millions in scrupulous deals with China and Ukraine. Hunter vehemently denied all charges.
“Joe Biden is a good boy, a decent man,” an LA-based producer and major donor to the Democratic Party told The Mail on Sunday. ‘Joe is someone who does not feel his wife is never scanned. Like Donald Trump, he does not even drink alcohol.
‘Hunter is his Achilles’ heel. Those around Joe do not even dare mention Hunter’s name. It’s a painful subject. He obviously loves Hunter, but Joe realizes he’s a liability. ‘
Indeed, last November, when a Fox News reporter confronted Biden after DNA tests proved that Hunter had an illegitimate child with Arkansas stripper Lunden Alexis Roberts (stage name ‘Dusty’), a father without children.
Visibly angry he grumbled, ‘No, that’s a private matter, I have no comment … only you would ask that …. Classy. ‘
While Hunter’s three adult daughters from his failed first marriage to Kathleen are clearly pointed out by their dedicated grandfather (at the convention, Naomi, 26, Finnegan, 20, and 19-year-old Maisy told how her grandfather calls her every day from the campaign trail), thought Biden had never met his son’s son Roberts.
‘Joe is a family man, but there are areas that are off-limit,’ ‘the donor said. “And Hunter’s private life of car crash is one of them.”
‘Dusty’, the stripper Hunter father with an illegitimate child
Instead, Biden’s campaign focused on the compelling childhood story of Hunter and his late brother Beau: two little boys who were left homeless after a 1972 car crash claimed the lives of Biden’s first wife Neilia, 30, and 13-month-old daughter. Naomi. Hunter and Beau were both seriously injured in the accident.
Much has been made of the fact that Biden, as a young senator in the early stages of ‘overwhelming’ grief, would travel four hours every day by train from his home in Delaware to Washington DC and back again, leaving his sons could make breakfast and be there at night to put them to bed at night.
Then there is the powerful story of how his second wife Jill, a schoolteacher, rejected his marriage proposal five times because she loved young Beau and Hunter so much that she would be sure of the marriage. would never end in divorce ‘because I could stand the idea that little boys should suffer more’.
Biden’s TV commercials lovingly portrayed black-and-white portraits of his sons as children. There are pictures of Biden being sworn in as a senator for Delaware in his sons’ hospital after the accident.
One longtime Biden supporter describes Hunter’s story as ‘almost biblical’ in the way his life is held in stark contrast to that of his ‘perfect’ older brother.
‘Hunter adores his father and he adores his big brother Beau [who died of brain cancer in 2015, aged 46], ‘said the source.
‘You should have a heart of steel to feel no sympathy for Hunter. His father is revered by people from both parties for being honest and sincere, an all-round good boy.
Then you have Beau who was a war hero, never did anything wrong, entered politics and was tipped off as a future president. Even today, Joe talks about how Beau was a better version of himself.
‘In contrast, you have Hunter who is never fully fulfilled in his promise and, even worse, is lured by the grip of addiction and takes one bad decision after another.’
Hunter, who holds several jobs, including lawyer and financier, married his first wife, Kathleen Buhle, in 1992 after meeting them at church.
The couple married the following year when she was pregnant with their first daughter and divorced in 2015, the year Beau died.
In court documents, Kathleen Hunter, who has been fighting multiple sayings in rehab centers, accused of cocaine and alcohol addiction, of ‘creating situations that are unsafe or traumatic for our children’.
Kathleen claimed he had wasted the family’s money on strippers, booze, drugs, prostitutes and even gifts to other lovers: ‘His spending rarely has to do with legitimate family expenses, but focuses on his own journey (sometimes multiple hotel rooms). same night), gifts for other women, alcohol, strip clubs, or other personal indulgences, ‘Kathleen said in documents filed in Washington DC in February 2017.
‘Through the separation of the parties, Mr Biden has created financial concerns for the family by spending extravagantly on his own interests (including drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, strip clubs, and gifts for women with whom he has sexual relations), while leaving the family with no funds to pay legitimate tickets. ‘In perhaps the most salacious twist, Hunter began an affair in 2016 with his brother’s widow Hallie, while he was still legally married.
Hunter has since said the two were thrown together in mourning ‘sharing a very specific grief’, saying: ‘I started thinking of Hallie as the only person in my life who understood my loss. All we got was everyone’s whole time. ‘
Although from his revelation he said his father was ‘blindside’, he immediately released a message of support for his son and former daughter-in-law.
In another highly publicized incident, Hunter enlisted in the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2013 only to be kicked out within weeks when a random drug test discovered cocaine in his system.
He claimed, improbably, that he had ‘accidentally’ imitated the cocaine after he’med a smoke ‘from some men outside a bar that made him feel strangely’ amped up ‘.
When his wife begged him to stay sober for 30 days, he did so, only to drink a bottle of vodka one day and come back.
After several failed attempts at rehab, he was admitted to a clinic in Mexico in 2014 and used ibogaine, a psychoactive drug derived from the roots of a West African shrub that is illegal in the US, to take drugs. try. Through it all, his fathers stood firm in his support.
Joe Biden cut his 30th birthday cake with first wife Neilia and sons Beau, left, and Hunter in 1972
During one vodka binge, Hunter did not leave his apartment for weeks. His father, then vice-president, came to his door uncomfortably:
‘I need you,’ his father told him. “What should we do?”
Last night, Hunter was believed to be at his home in Los Angeles with his second wife, 34-year-old South African filmmaker Melissa Cohen, whom he married in May last year, just six days after their first meeting. She gave birth to a baby boy in March. While Hunter maintains that he is clean and sober and enjoys his ‘new’ life, his business dealings continue with threats from his father’s presidential campaign.
President Trump has called for a probe into why Hunter was paid $ 50,000 (£ 38,000) a month by a Ukrainian company while his father was vice president. Hunter said he would add ‘welcome’ to any research: ‘I have nothing to hide.’
Likewise, he says his dealings with China have all been ‘completely legitimate’, despite the fact that he flew to one of his father’s official visits as vice-president and was pictured meeting with business colleagues, in strict violation of the White House policy. He praises his father for never leaving him, saying, ‘I am absolutely engrossed in love. Everyone is in pain. Everyone has trauma. There is addiction in every family. I was in that darkness. I was sitting in that tunnel, it’s a never ending tunnel. You will not lose it. You figure out how to deal with it. ‘
Not that the Trump campaign is likely to show much sympathy. According to the Democratic donor, Trump will stop at nothing to exploit Biden’s ‘weakness’ over his son.
‘This is personal for Trump. The whole thing about him being fired was because Donald threatened to refrain from helping Ukraine unless Ukraine launched a probe into Hunter’s business dealings. People in England may not have heard the name of Hunter Biden, but as the election draws to a close, you will not be able to avoid it.
‘Trump is notorious for playing dirty and he is determined to win at all costs. If he can throw dirt on Joe by attacking his son, he will. For some voters, that mud will stick.
‘The one certainty about Joe is that he will never turn his back on Hunter. Only time will tell if that loyalty will cost him the most important price of all. ‘
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