Hunter, in his book, wrote that he and his father initially “dealt with our grief in ways that often were incongruent with helping each other.” His father immersed himself in his work, as vice president and then in the run-up to his 2020 campaign, but ultimately the attacks on him in that campaign helped bring them together again. He was a better man than I am, and so is Hunter,” Joe Biden said. It also caused me and Jill enormous pain because he should be the one sitting there talking to you, Beau. Reflecting on grief recently in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Joe Biden said that as difficult as losing Beau was for him, it “was even more profound for Hunter” and his daughter, Ashley.
To blame it for his own substance abuse battles would be a “cop-out,” he wrote, but added later that it took him decades “to acknowledge that original loss, address that original trauma, recognize that original pain.” In his 2021 memoir, Hunter said he felt the unresolved trauma both he and his brother dealt with after the accident in 1972 “manifested themselves differently in each of us,” for the rest of their lives. AP fileīut Beau Biden’s passing only reignited addiction challenges Hunter Biden had faced before. senator from Delaware in a Wilmington hospital, on Jan. Four-year-old Beau Biden, foreground, rests while his father, Joe Biden, center, is sworn in as a U.S. “It’s not an excuse, but it is the reason,” he said. And after his illness and death, he “completely unraveled,” as he told Moby. Hunter Biden’s last words to his brother in 2015 were the same as the first he’d heard from him 42 years earlier. Biden advisers have noted, though, that Hunter Biden was also a target in the 2020 race and said the president’s critics often miss that the president’s standing by his son, especially supporting him in his recovery, has often made those attacks backfire. Republicans have made “where’s Hunter” a calling card of the 2024 race, with merchandise bearing the slogan. And sources close to the president quickly praised the remarks as “powerful” and “forceful.” But the president, who speaks with his son most days, if not multiple times each day, knew. Not everyone in the West Wing, even at senior levels, knew what Hunter Biden would say Wednesday. Hunter Biden “comes up all the time,” one source who has spoken with the president said, sometimes out of concern but also with pride at how he has endured the harsh spotlight recently. In private conversations, the president has blamed himself for the fact that his son remains such a political target, telling associates it would not be happening if he were not in office and running for another term. Hunter Biden has also said Republicans are weaponizing the president’s love for him to distract him in the campaign. Speaking not far from the Senate chamber where his father served for 36 years, the younger Biden said his parents “literally saved my life” amid his battle with addiction, and blasted Republicans who he said “have taken the light of my dad’s love for me and presented it as darkness.” It comes just days after his son made his most public response yet to allegations from House Republican investigators that are the basis of the impeachment inquiry against the president they formally approved on Wednesday.
Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images fileīiden will remain in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday on the somber anniversary, which has remained a sacred and protected day on his calendar as president, as it was when he was vice president and a senator. From left, President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Finnegan Biden holding Beau Biden, Hunter Biden, Melissa Cohen and Peter Neal watch fireworks on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2023. Now, Biden is preparing to wage his final campaign while his remaining son faces two separate criminal indictments.