Indicted first son Hunter Biden gets celebrity treatment working rope line at White House Easter Egg Roll
WASHINGTON — He must have heard there were bunnies.
President Biden’s disgraced son Hunter was the center of attention Monday as he bounced around the White House lawn during the annual Easter Egg Roll.
Hunter, 54, glad-handed and posed for photos with members of a 40,000-person crowd in full view of the press, despite sustained focus by Republicans on his alleged misdeeds.
The first son faces two federal criminal trials later this year for alleged tax fraud and gun crimes. Hunter is also, along with his uncle James, a central figure in the House Republican impeachment inquiry into corruption allegations against the president, who frequently engaged with his relatives’ foreign patrons.
Hunter’s trial in Los Angeles for allegedly failing to pay more than $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019 is scheduled to begin June 20.
His trial in Delaware for allegedly illegally possessing a gun and lying about his drug use on forms is scheduled to begin June 3.
Hunter’s four-year-old son Beau accompanied the first family on a weekend trip to Camp David in Maryland but was not with his dad as he greeted guests at the Easter Egg Roll.
The president’s son, whose X-rated images with prostitutes surfaced alongside files on his abandoned laptop linking his dad to overseas deals, attributes his wild past conduct to drug and alcohol abuse.
Hunter’s latest cameo came as Republican retirements make it unlikely that the House of Representatives could impeach President Biden this year.
The first son also walked past the traveling White House press corps Thursday in Manhattan ahead of his father’s record-setting $26 million fundraiser with celebrities including Stephen Colbert, Mindy Kaling and Lizzo at Radio City Music Hall.
The House GOP’s five-vote edge will be reduced to four on April 19 when Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) resigns and likely to three following an April 30 special election in New York’s heavily Democratic 26th District.
The impeachment inquiry has focused on evidence that Joe Biden met with foreign partners of Hunter and James Biden from two Chinese government-backed ventures and their associates from Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine. Most of those meetings occurred when Joe Biden was sitting vice president and leading US foreign policy toward those countries.
Republicans leading the probe say that Hunter and James Biden sold access and influence, while two IRS whistleblowers who investigated the first son testified last year that the Justice Department repeatedly headed off attempts to investigate the president’s possible role in foreign dealings, even when communications directly mentioned him.
But some House GOP members have expressed concern about the lack of a clear crime committed by the president — though others argue the Bidens blatantly flouted policies under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
After his father became president, Hunter launched a career as an artist and has sold at least $1.5 million of his novice works — including two pieces to Democratic donor Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, who scored repeated visits to the White House and a presidential appointment to a prestigious commission. Naftali has denied having any corrupt intent.
Meanwhile, Hunter’s living expenses have been covered by Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who met him for the first time at a fundraiser for the future president in late 2019, shortly before Morris began helping pay off Hunter’s tax debts and living expenses.
Morris has given or loaned Hunter at least $4.9 million, but declined to give a precise figure during his impeachment inquiry testimony in January. Republicans believe the total could top $7 million and argue it may amount to an illicit in-kind campaign contribution.
President Biden has repeatedly denied any role in his relatives’ dealings — saying last month that “I did not interact with their partners” — prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to accuse Biden of uttering “yet another lie” about his role in those relationships.
