Should We Leave Hunter Biden Alone?

President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden gets beat up repeatedly by Republicans, the right-wing media, and even the mainstream media.

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You have to admit he has problems, but are they bad enough to make him out to be villain that he is often portrayed?

Maybe we are being unfair to a man that still has the potential to shake off his demons and emerge as the special person that President Biden maintains that he is.

Hunter Biden Had Potential for Success

Hunter Biden is 52 and will be 53 in February. His career has been cluttered with several different jobs from finance to lobbying. He has endured his share of personal problems with substance abuse and marital issues. Hunter is highly educated with an undergraduate degree from Georgetown and a law degree from Yale. His father often claims that Hunter is the most intelligent man he knows.

Barely Survived a Tragic Car Wreck

Hunter’s life started with tragedy at an early age. He, his mom, and his brother Beau, and sister Naomi were traveling in a car that crashed into a semi-truck in 1972. The wreck killed his mother and sister. Beau survived with broken bones and Hunter had a fractured skull and traumatic brain injuries. He spent several months in the hospital. Hunter Biden has said that this accident haunted him and spurred his later drug use.

Finance, Lobbying, and Consulting

After law school, Hunter got a job with the bank MBNA. Critics pointed out that his father, as senator had worked on credit card legislation that could have helped MBNA.

Hunter rose to executive vice president at MBNA and then left to work as a policy director for the Clinton Administration in 1998.

In 2001, Hunter worked as a lobbyist and community outreach worker for St. Joseph’s University. Later that decade, Hunter served on the board of Amtrak. In 2008 and 2009, he founded two consulting companies.

Was He Qualified to Work in Energy?

But then his life became controversial.

In 2014, Hunter took a board position with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, despite having no prior experience in the industry. This appointment was curious because his father was handling foreign policy with Ukraine as vice president.

Donald Trump, during the 2016 presidential campaign, claimed that Joe Biden tried to fire a Ukrainian prosecutor who was investigating Hunter. Hunter also served on the board of a Chinese private equity fund. Hunter’s detractors believed that he used his father’s influence to gain this position.

Short and Disappointing Stretch in the Military

Hunter wanted to serve in the military despite his advanced age of 43. He was able to secure a direct officer’s commission in the U.S. Navy Reserves. Within a month, Hunter had failed a drug test, reportedly for cocaine, and was administratively discharged from the navy.

This was one example of periods with heavy use of alcohol and drugs that included crack cocaine – all detailed in his memoir.

Laptop Controversy

In October of 2020, just days before the election, the New York Post detailed emails that they had recovered from a laptop computer that Hunter had left in a repair shop, despite many in the intelligence community claiming the computer was planted by Russia as a disinformation campaign.

News agencies later authenticated the laptop as legitimate. One email detailed a meeting between Joe Biden and a Burisma advisor. The vice president at the time had claimed that he had no dealings with Hunter Biden’s business associates and never spoke with his son about them.

He Made that Much Money?

NBC News determined in May of 2022 that “From 2013 through 2018 Hunter Biden and his company brought in about $11 million via his roles as an attorney and a board member with a Ukrainian firm accused of bribery and his work with a Chinese businessman now accused of fraud.”

Indictment Decision Could Come Soon

The Washington Post reported in October of 2022 that federal investigators had attained incriminating information on Hunter’s taxes and a false statement when he bought a gun. The New York Times reported this year that the decision on whether to indict Hunter could come soon.

Can His Behavior Be Excused Because of Substance Abuse?

How much did Hunter’s drug and alcohol dependency lead to his legal jeopardy and alleged corrupt behavior?

We are no medical professionals or addiction counselors, but it seems that his substance abuse problems likely clouded his judgment. Is that enough to exonerate Hunter if he gets indicted? It is clear that Hunter has made some bad decisions in his life, and he may have to pay legally for his alleged transgressions.

Not Out of the Woods Yet

If he is indicted, it will again call into question his father’s involvement in Hunter’s business practices. Fathers will help troubled sons in their careers and when they get caught up in legal problems, but President Biden has claimed he has done nothing that would involve him in his son’s business dealings.

Republicans Vow a Thorough Investigation

House Republicans on the Oversight Committee are already demanding documents on the Bidens’ bank transactions. GOP congressional members promise they will heavily investigate alleged abuse of the presidential office for personal gain and obstruct investigations.

So, Hunter is still a liability, and his father’s love for his son could pull him deeper into a legal morass. One can only hope Hunter remains clean and sober throughout the various investigations and receives the best legal counsel available, especially if he gets indicted.

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Author Expertise and Experience: Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.