‘I Know That Hunter Is Innocent’: First Lady Jill Biden Defends Stepson as Federal Gun Charges Loom
President Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, is publicly defending her stepson Hunter despite a probe into the younger Biden’s allegedly illegal purchase of a firearm.
Speaking from her East Wing office in the White House, Jill dismissed allegations that Hunter’s actions were illegal.
“Everybody and their brother has investigated Hunter. They keep at it, and at it, and at it. I know that Hunter is innocent. I love my son, and I will keep looking forward,” Biden said to NBC News in an interview published Friday.
The First Lady’s statements come on the heels of the news that federal investigators believe they’ve gathered sufficient evidence to indict Hunter on federal gun and tax charges.
The investigation concerns Hunter’s 2018 gun purchase, for which he lied on a background check by attesting that he was not using illegal drugs at the time. Hunter openly acknowledged his struggle with drug addiction in his recently published memoir and revealed that he was using vast quantities of crack cocaine at the time of the gun purchase.
After the purchase, Hunter allegedly brandished the firearm in a threatening manner so much so that Hailie Biden, Hunter’s then-girlfriend, threw it away, fearing what he would do with it in his intoxicated state. Secret Service agents eventually collected the gun, according to Politico.
The president has stood by his son throughout the embarrassing public episode. “I’m proud of my son. This is a kid who got, not a kid – he’s a grown man. He got hooked on – like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life,” President Biden told Josh Tapper of CNN.
Against the backdrop of the upcoming midterms and fears that Democratic cities have become lawless and crime-ridden, the prospects of Hunter’s misdeeds put President Biden in a compromising position.
Republicans in the House have vowed to investigate Hunter’s various misdeeds, which allegedly include corrupt foreign influence-peddling, should they reclaim a majority in the midterms.
