Joe Biden was reduced to tears by Hunter Biden's addiction

Hunter Biden's drug and alcohol addiction forced his father to make a tearful intervention at the height of the last year's presidential campaign.

The president's second son told CBS of the family's desperate attempts to tackle his long-standing substance abuse in a series of CBS interviews ahead of Tuesday's publication of his book "Beautiful Things",

Matters came to a head at Joe Biden's Delaware home in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

Hunter Biden stormed out of the house with his father in pursuit.

"I tried to go to my car and my girls, literally blocked the door of my car," Mr Biden said.

Joe Biden grabbed his son in a bear hug. "He just cried, just that I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do," Hunter Biden said.

"I thought, I need to figure out a way to tell them that I'm going to do something,

That's how powerful I don't really have a force more powerful than my, my family's love except addiction."

Hunter Biden's problems with drugs and alcohol were well documented as he went in and out of rehab.

But it was the president's 51-year-old son's business dealings, joining the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which threatened to derail Joe Biden's campaign.

Mr Biden admitted that he probably would not have been appointed to the company's board if his family name had been different.

He conceded, in retrospect, accepting the position could have been a mistake, because it had become a distraction. Mr Biden promised not to work for any foreign companies while his father was in the Oval Office.

"Did I make a mistake? Well maybe in the grand scheme of things. Yeah.

"But did I make a mistake, based upon some ethical lapse? Absolutely not."

He added: "I don't regret being on the board, what I regret is not taking into account that there would be a Rudy Giuliani, and a president of the United States that would be listening to this, this ridiculous conspiracy idea, which has again been completely debunked by everyone."