In 2014, after Hunter Biden was sentenced to discharge from the Navy Reserve for taking cocaine, his father, Joe Biden, who was serving as Vice President at the time, sent a brief statement to his family that summarized the situation.
In an email, he indicated that it was time to move on.
Moving forward from Hunter’s struggles with addiction has proven to be one of the most difficult challenges for the Bidens. The worst days of the family’s existence continue to carry repercussions in ways that weigh hard on the president, despite the fact that their son is now clean and lives in California with his young family after his recovery from substance abuse.
In what has been a protracted and challenging ordeal, Hunter Biden’s guilty conviction on three federal firearms counts took place on Tuesday. However, the decision did not bring an end to the situation. Despite the fact that Joe Biden had intended to spend Tuesday night in the White House, he made his way back to Delaware late in the day in order to surround himself with members of his family, many of whom had spent the previous week attending the trial.
When he arrived at the stairs leading to Marine One, his son, who had only five hours earlier left the courts in the downtown area after being found guilty, was there to greet him.
The family did not seem to be in any kind of distress, at least not in front of the cameras, if they were experiencing any. The president, on the other hand, greeted his family with a kind grin, embraced Beau, the infant son of Hunter Biden, and kissed him on the forehead.
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When it comes to dealing with his son’s conviction, Joe Biden does not have much of a template to follow. The direct family member of a president has never previously been found guilty of a crime while their father was serving in office. This has never happened before. It is a particular responsibility for him to bear as president, despite the fact that his family shares the emotional weight and stress that he is experiencing.
The president’s itinerary was not changed in any way, with the exception of the last-minute travel to Delaware, which was first considered a possibility late on Monday night, according to a person familiar with the planning, and a final decision was taken on Tuesday afternoon after the judgment was announced. However, despite the political discomfort of the subject matter, he continued to speak on Tuesday afternoon at an event in Washington that was focused on the prevention of gun violence. In addition, he is still intending to go to Italy on Wednesday in order to attend the G7 meeting.
The manner in which the president handled the legal situation involving his son was consistent with the exhibition of affection that took place on the tarmac on Tuesday. During the whole of Hunter Biden’s suffering, the president has maintained a strong relationship with him, as opposed to the more cautious Democrats who may like to push him away.
Following the exchange of embraces between members of the Biden family and close aides at the airport, the group went in separate vehicles to the president’s residence in a quiet suburb in Wilmington in order to privately contemplate the happenings that had occurred.
Joe Biden and his family have, for the most part, restricted their worries over their son’s legal difficulties to private conversations that have taken place behind closed doors. There has been a reluctance on the part of the president to discuss the situation in public, and it is not a subject that is readily brought up by his advisors.
When asked about the matter during an appearance with ABC on the previous week, Biden only provided comments consisting of a single word.
“Yes,” he would give his consent to the judgment. “Yes,” he said, indicating that he decided against granting a pardon.
On account of the fact that the circumstances surrounding the case were private, the extremely public exposure of horrific moments that occurred during the trial that took place last week was made all the more distressing.
Naomi, the president’s granddaughter, had a profound impact on many members of the president’s family with her tearful moments. And the discovery that Hallie Biden — the widow of the president’s late son, Beau Biden, who subsequently had a connection with Hunter Biden — had also used crack cocaine rippled across the larger Biden circle.
Immediately after the judgment was announced, Joe Biden issued a statement in which he framed the conviction through the prism of a parent rather than a president.
We are incredibly proud of the guy that our son has become today, and Jill and I love him so much. In his letter, the president noted that “so many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out on the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”
Additionally, he made an effort to differentiate himself from former President Donald Trump, who has referred to the legal system as “rigged” in the aftermath of his own felony conviction on charges of falsifying company records. He did this in an attempt to make a difference that was both implicit and apparent.
The president stated, “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” Hunter is now considering this decision. Our love and support will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family, and Jill and I will never stop being there for them. There is no way that will ever alter it.
Despite the fact that Biden’s advisers and even many Republicans have minimized the possibility of voters being affected by the legal difficulties of the president’s son, it is still impossible to determine what impact the verdict will play in the election that will take place in November.
Biden’s advisors, upon learning of the judgment, made it very clear to allies that, despite the unprecedented conviction of a sitting president’s son, everything would continue to be business as usual for the campaign, according to two people who are familiar with the campaign’s thinking.
Even as Hunter Biden’s trial got underway, officials inside the president’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington maintained that voters understand what they see as a black-and-white difference between Trump, who is a former president and now a convicted felon, and Hunter Biden, who – despite being the president’s son – is a private citizen.
Although one of the two individuals said that it was not unexpected that authorities in Wilmington discussed the guilty decision, the source refused to characterize the tone of the talks that took place over the conviction.
This reluctance was a clear reflection of a truth that Biden’s friends are well aware of: There are few subjects that are more sensitive inside the White House and the operation of the president’s reelection campaign than those that are tied to his family.
At least for some individuals who are close to Biden, the human toll that the verdict may have on the president as he prepares for a grueling rematch against Trump is perhaps more concerning than the political damage that could occur as a result of the decision. During the whole of the legal drama, Biden has been worried about his son’s well-being. He communicates with his son on a regular basis, either via phone calls or texting.
The president is still anticipated to devote a significant amount of effort in the next weeks to preparation for the debate that he will have with Trump on June 27. And it is anticipated that Vice President Biden will depart for a trip to Italy for the G7 meeting, which will last for three days, only one day after one of the most difficult times for his family.
A coincidence in scheduling exemplifies the delicate balance that Vice President Biden has been had to maintain during the court processes involving his son. Biden was in France remembering D-Day at the same time as the trial was taking place the previous week. The president, according to his aides, was keeping watch of the trial from abroad and maintained in contact with his son and first wife, Jill Biden, who was a frequent presence in the courtroom. Additionally, the president’s brother James and the first lady’s sister Bonny Jacobs were both present in the courtroom.
During the months leading up to and after that trip, the President of the United States spent a considerable amount of time in Delaware with Hunter Biden. This included spending time at the family beach house in Rehoboth on the first weekend before jury selection. Upon his return from France, he went straight to the residence of his family in Wilmington.
That city is at the very core of the identity that can be attributed to the Biden family. Now, in his honor, the rail station that the president traveled through hundreds of times during his service as a senator and vice president has been given its name. The courtroom that was the site of the trial was named for the Republican senator who Biden was unsuccessful in re-electing in 1972. A short distance away is where the headquarters of the president’s reelection campaign may be found.
The Biden family has made a habit of going back to their lakefront property, which is located farther away from the city, during both happy and sad times. During the most difficult times of Hunter Biden’s addiction, his father once pursued his son after an effort at intervention, hugged him close in the dark, and sobbed. This occurred in the driveway that is located in front of the house.
