President Biden reflected on his younger son, Hunter Biden struggles with substance abuse in the past, declaring that “my boy’s back,” while emotionally discussing the “honesty” reading about his problems detailed in the upcoming memoir.
“The honesty with which he stepped forward and talked about the problem,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News as he became emotional and choked up while holding back tears. “And the hope that — it gave me hope reading it.”
“It was like my boy’s back,” Biden added. “I’m sorry to get so personal.”
Biden told CBS “Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell that his family’s struggles were relatable to many American families across the country.
“You know, I’ll bet there’s not a family you know that doesn’t have somebody in the family that had a drug problem or an alcohol problem,” Biden said, noting his son’s book reflects the struggles that many American families with loved ones battling addictions are going through.
Hunter is set to release his memoir on April 6 titled “Beautiful Things” by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, less than 100 days into his father’s presidency. The book will discuss his struggles with substance abuse, as well as his relationship with his family, including with his father and late brother, Beau Biden.
Plans for the book were kept under wraps after Hunter signed the lucrative secret contract in 2019, despite being under federal investigation for numerous potential crimes including money laundering that potentially is connected to his father emerged in the public eye. It is reported that Hunter will receive high six figures for his memoir, possibly receiving as high as $2million for the book advance and could earn millions more if the book gets turned into a film.
Hunter inked the hush-hush contract around the same time the FBI began examining the younger Biden multiple financial issues that revealed some of those transactions involved people that sparked counterintelligence concerns. The New York Post in their in-depth respectable coverage, uncovered a series of blockbuster revelations regarding Hunter’s foreign dealings with Ukraine and China during the final weeks of the 2020 campaign. The revelations were found in an abandoned laptop once belonging to Hunter, who left it unclaimed at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware.
In December, Hunter revealed in a statement using his father’s taxpayer transition team that his “tax affairs” are under federal investigation for possible tax fraud and money laundering activities.
“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter said in a statement on Dec 9. “I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
However, less than one month before his father was set to be sworn in to take the office of the presidency, it was reported that Hunter still owns a 10 percent stake in a private investment firm he formed with institutions owned by the Chinese Communist Party. The investment firm — BHR Partners — Bohai Harvest RST (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Co., was formed less than two weeks after Hunter joined his father, then vice president abroad Air Force Two for a trip to Beijing in Dec 2013.
Chinese business records showed that a U.S. company, Skaneateles LLC, owns a 10% equity stake in BHR. Hunter is the sole beneficial owner of Skaneateles, whose financial backers include the Bank of China, according to Washington corporate records. The younger Biden invested $420,000 in October 2017, giving him an attained 10 percent equity position in BHR Partners.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki when asked about Hunter’s delay in divestment of his 10 percent share acknowledged that the younger Biden is still an investor with BHR and is still “working to unwind” those investments.
“He has been working to unwind his investment but I would certainly point you — he’s a private citizen — I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside on any update,” Psaki said during her daily briefing.
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