Joe Biden’s son Hunter has spoken about his absence at his father’s campaign launch in Philadelphia in May, saying: “It’s killing me and it’s killing him.”
At the event, the whole Biden family was present apart from Hunter, 49, whose seat remained empty with just a sign that said “Reserved” on it. The day before, it had been revealed that a cocaine pipe had been found in his rental car in 2016.
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But he acknowledged that his presence could have damaged his father’s campaign given his long history of drug and alcohol abuse; accusations he used prostitutes and the Ashley Madison infidelity website; his relationship with his late brother Beau’s widow; a paternity suit from an Arkansas woman; questionable foreign lobbying practices; and a secret marriage this year to a woman he had met just 10 days earlier.
“Beau and I have been there since we were carried in baskets during his first campaign,” he told The New Yorker. “We went everywhere with him. At every single major event and every small event that had to do with his political career, I was there. I’ve never missed a rally for my dad. The notion that I’m not standing next to him in Philadelphia, next to the Rocky statue, it’s heartbreaking for me. It’s killing me and it’s killing him. Dad says, ‘Be here.’ Mom says, ‘Be here.’ But at what cost?”
Hunter and Beau Biden, who was two years older and died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46, were born to Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia, who was killed along with their sister Naomi, one, in a 1972 car crash. He now refers to Neilia as “Mommy” and Jill Biden, whom Joe married in 1977, as “Mom.”
In the interview, Hunter Biden described himself as a “security blanket” for his father, currently the front-runner in the race to be the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. “I can say things to him that nobody else can,” he said.
But the 49-year-old has had a tumultuous personal life. He has suffered from drug and alcohol addiction, he was discharged from the Navy Reserve after he tested positive for cocaine, he dated his brother’s widow before he and his wife divorced, and his work in Ukraine while his father was vice president has recently come under scrutiny.
He recently married Melissa Cohen, 32, a South African divorcee.
he said he was unconcerned by President Trump’s call for a Justice Department investigation into his lobbying activities in Ukraine. “I hope they’re taking pictures of us right now. I hope it’s a live feed to the President so he can see just how much I care about the tweets,” Biden said as a helicopter flew overheard during an interview with The New Yorker.
“I told Melissa, ‘I don’t care. Fuck you, Mr. President. Here I am, living my life,’” he said.
