Joe Biden’s Worries Grow As Hunter Biden’s Trial Begins

Over the past few weeks, President Joe Biden has grown consumed by worries over the trial of Hunter Biden. He’s called family members more regularly to check on his son’s mood. The topic of the criminal case dominated the family gatherings in Delaware over the weekend. And when the trial opened on Monday, Biden issued a personal statement offering his support for his son, noting that he was a father in addition to the president.

Those actions underscored the deeply complicated but central role the younger Biden occupies in the family orbit. Hunter Biden's business dealings, struggles with addiction and legal troubles have all become fodder for the president’s critics and a source of political uncertainty for his father.

Biden and his family were involved in brief discussions early in the term about not seeking reelection to ease the burden on his son, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic. But they said that those worries were set aside when the family — including Hunter — urged the president to run again, especially as former President Donald Trump appeared poised to make a comeback.

But Hunter Biden’s controversies have also been measured by the immense emotional strain they have placed on the president.

Joe Biden has long expressed a private guilt to confidants about the spotlight his career has cast on his family. He has expressed fear that the trial could lead to his son’s incarceration or endanger his sobriety. Among Biden confidants, there has been growing concern that the personal burden the president felt would get worse as the court proceedings unfolded.

First lady Jill Biden, on her birthday, joined several relatives to support Hunter in court Monday, with opening statements expected Tuesday. The mothers of five of Biden’s grandchildren will likely be called to testify as part of the prosecution’s case against his son.

The specter of the testimony from Kathleen Buhle (Hunter Biden’s ex-wife) and Hallie Biden (Beau Biden's wife with whom Hunter Biden had an intimate relationship after his brother died) has been a challenge for the president, who remains a patriarchal presence for his family. That’s not just because the two women are expected to speak about Hunter’s sordid past, but because of the timing of their testimony, coming just a few days after what is annually the most difficult day of the president’s year: the anniversary of Beau Biden’s death.

“He carries so much worry and grief about his family all the time, and it’s especially there now,” said a person close to the president who was granted anonymity to speak publicly about private conversations. “Seeing Hallie up there will be hard.”

The president rarely discusses the relationship Hallie had with Hunter, according to the people familiar. But he paid a visit to her Wilmington home last week, which prompted critics to suggest he was attempting to interfere in the prosecution of his son. The White House had said the president was there to pay tribute to Beau and did not mention the trial. The White House declined to comment for this story. While there is concern that Biden will be impacted psychologically by the trial of his son, Democrats do not believe that it will play a major role electorally.

“There is always some risk, no matter how small, for the trial to impact the president if it ends up in the headlines every day,” said Basil Smikle, a veteran Democratic strategist. “But what helps him is that his son has shown contrition while Donald Trump has not. That split screen for the voter is very important.”

Hunter Biden faces three criminal counts for allegedly buying a gun while in the throes of addiction to crack cocaine and lying on an official form about it. The charges were brought by the president’s own Justice Department, and the trial is taking place in his family’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

The president checks on Hunter — who also faces separate tax charges in California — every day, usually with a call, sometimes with a text. The advisers say that will continue through the trial, though Biden is set to leave Tuesday evening for a trip to France to mark the anniversary of D-Day and for a state dinner in Paris.

In the days prior to his departure for Europe, Biden has spent a substantial amount of time in Delaware. He was secluded for several days with his family for their yearly remembrances of Beau Biden. The president and family members, including Hunter, paid a visit Thursday to Beau’s grave at the family’s Delaware church.

Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. His father wears his son’s rosary around his wrist at all times and almost never goes a day without invoking the memory of his son.

The Bidens have long prided themselves in rallying together at times of crisis, and the family has suffered loss like few others in the modern political spotlight. Biden’s first wife and their daughter were killed in a 1972 car accident that also gravely injured Beau and Hunter.

Joe Biden nearly died from a brain aneurysm in 1988. And Hunter Biden, who was already battling alcoholism, spiraled into substance abuse after his brother’s death nine years ago. His wife told him in 2015 that she would seek a divorce, and he later struck up a romance with Hallie Biden, his brother’s widow.

The president has expressed pride at his son’s sobriety but has occasionally expressed frustration that he believes his son has been singled out because of his last name, according to three of the people familiar with his private conversations.

White House aides long ago learned to speak about Hunter Biden’s legal issues as little as possible. And there is little appetite among Biden’s aides to discuss ways with the president to politically manage it, even as the reelection campaign accelerates into a crucial phase. Biden aides instead make the point that persistent GOP efforts to go after Hunter have failed politically and that many Americans can sympathize with the challenges of addiction.

“The trial probably won’t hurt Biden and, if anything, shows how fair he has been in letting his government carry out the prosecution,” said Susan Del Percio, a GOP strategist. “But it is going to be emotionally draining, and maybe the president gets distracted and says something he shouldn’t. That’s the risk.”