The Biden administration confirmed on Tuesday that Hunter Biden gave his father speech prep ahead of his brief primetime address last night, as multiple outlets report the first son’s controversial presence at high-stakes White House meetings.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing on Tuesday that Hunter Biden was in a speech prep meeting because Joe Biden’s family is around for the holiday weekend, downplaying the significance of Hunter’s presence.
“Look, the president as you know is very close to his family, this is a holiday week, Fourth of July. He spent time with his family,” Jean-Pierre said in response to a question from NBC News’s Kelly O’Donnell.
“Hunter came back with [Joe Biden] and walked with him into that meeting, that speech prep, and he ended up spending time with his dad and his family that night,” Jean-Pierre added.
O’Donnell pressed Jean-Pierre on whether Hunter Biden is participating in meetings with White House senior officials. Jean-Pierre reiterated the fact that Hunter Biden was in the speech prep meeting without commenting further.
President Biden spoke for four minutes in primetime Monday night to address the Supreme Court’s decision to grant former president Donald Trump immunity from official acts and send Trump’s January 6 case back to lower courts. Biden read his speech off a teleprompter and took no questions once he finished.
Jean-Pierre’s comments echo the response given by White House spokesman Andrew Bates to NBC News’s reporting that Hunter Biden is participating in meetings and speaking to senior White House staffers.
“Hunter came back with the President from their family weekend at Camp David and went with the President straight into speech prep,” Bates told NBC. National Review has reached out for further comment.
“I think Hunter wants to be there, and POTUS isn’t going to say no,” a source told the New York Post, confirming to the outlet Hunter’s presence at the White House meetings.
Since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate last week, Hunter has been closely advising his father as the Biden family recuperated at Camp David, NBC reported. The New York Times similarly reported over the weekend that Hunter urged his father to stay in the race amid public conversations about potentially replacing Biden.
Former Jill Biden spokesman Michael LaRosa told NR’s Audrey Fahlberg on Monday that it is not usual for President Biden to seek Hunter’s advice.
“Oh, that’s pretty normal. I think he leans on Hunter for advice often,” LaRosa said, referring to the Times report.
“Most importantly, Hunter has had a front-row seat and a witness to the evolution of American politics over the course — like very up close and personal for four or five decades.”
Biden’s family members reportedly blamed the president’s top campaign advisers for his historically poor debate showing, marked by his struggle to form coherent sentences and frequent stumbles over his words.
Joe Biden and his associates have always maintained that he and his son have placed firm boundaries between their personal relationship and professional responsibilities, as Republicans have scrutinized Hunter’s lucrative foreign business dealings during and after his father’s vice presidency.
Earlier this year, Hunter Biden testified for the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into his father and admitted that Joe shook hands with and spoke to his business partners.
But, Hunter repeatedly said his father had no involvement in the foreign business enterprise. Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings mostly took place with individuals and entities from Ukraine, Romania, and China over a five-year period last decade. House Republicans have referred Hunter and his uncle, James Biden, to the Justice Department for allegedly lying under oath about their foreign business dealings.
The White House and Biden campaign officials have publicly defended the president’s mental acuity and ability to hold the nation’s highest office. Senior Democratic leadership, spearheaded by former presidents Obama and Clinton, defended Biden over the past few days.
Public conversations are continuing over Biden’s age and mental fitness, given the latest round of less-than-stellar polls for the incumbent president and a barrage of news stories about Biden’s limited functionality.
In June, Hunter Biden was convicted of three federal gun charges for lying about his crack cocaine usage on gun paperwork in October 2018 and subsequently possessing a firearm while being addicted to crack cocaine.
A major theme from Hunter’s criminal trial last month was the destructive nature of his crack cocaine addiction, affecting himself and those around him, and was evidence of his often poor judgement and litany of past mistakes.
At the debate, Trump brought up Hunter’s felony conviction when Joe Biden mentioned Trump’s, and the former president suggested Joe could be prosecuted at a later date.
In September, Hunter Biden is set to stand trial again on nine federal tax charges for allegedly failing to pay over $1.4 million worth of taxes over a four-year period when he made roughly $7 million of income, primarily from his foreign business dealings. He has pleaded not guilty to the tax charges.
For now, Joe Biden has said he will not pardon his son or commute his upcoming sentence.