Topline
Hunter Biden, the troubled youngest son of former President Joe Biden, has stepped back into the public eye with a series of attention-grabbing social media posts through which he’s offering his most extensive public commentary in years on his family, sobriety, drug use and his father’s faltering legacy.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, looks on from the East Room of the White House on Jan. 4, 2025.
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Key Facts
Hunter Biden, who has faced extreme scrutiny, criminal convictions and mounting financial woes over the last decade, re-launched an old X account weeks ago and has since made several posts that have gone viral for their candor and subject matter.
He posted one of his most-viewed commentaries yet on Wednesday morning—it had racked up 4.3 million views as of 3 p.m. EDT—in which he criticizes CNN host Jake Tapper for “attacking” former First Lady Jill Biden instead of focusing on actions taken by members of the Trump family, which he goes on to list.
When a critic responded with a post doubting his dad’s cancer diagnosis (Joe Biden’s office said he’d been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Stage IV prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones last year), Hunter Biden’s response also starting trending on X: “I understand if you don’t like my Dad’s politics and you hate me because you believe everything Fox News has told you. I’m fine with that, but my Dad has cancer,” he wrote.
On Monday, Hunter Biden marked “7 years sober” by posting a short video and one X user immediately responded by saying the claim was a lie, linking him to a July 2023 incident in which a “small bag of cocaine” was discovered on the ground floor of the White House’s West Wing.
“That was your bag of coke in the white house,” the poster said, to which Hunter Biden replied in a now-viral tweet: “It most definitely was not. I would never have forgotten my drugs.”
He stuck with his denial Wednesday after another user told him to “Do another bump,” by posting, “Why does everyone keep saying this? I smoked crack. I would never have wasted cocaine by putting it up my nose.”
Hunter Biden has used his new social media stardom to become one of the biggest defenders of his father’s legacy, which has been under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks, and told one critic: “My Dad is tens times the man you are Kevin.”
Readingcrucial Quote
“You might not like my Dad’s politics, but he is the best Dad in the world and I love him more than anything,” Hunter Biden wrote. “And if you’re worried about who is selling out this country you might want to check out who is paying Jared Kushner.
Tangent
Hunter Biden has also used his social media popularity to promote sales of his artwork. Hunter Biden enjoyed a brief career as an “emerging” artist during his father’s presidency, during which he said he sold about $1.5 million in paintings, despite sparking ethics concerns from Republicans who claimed people were buying the art to gain favor with the Biden family (one purchaser and major Democratic donor was later appointed to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, but nothing substantial ever came of the claims). Hunter Biden declared in court filings that since December 2023, however, he’s sold only one piece for $36,000. He said in the same court filings that he’s mired in debt and has faced a series of hardships since his father left office. He said his memoir has struggled to sell and that while he expected to book paid speaking engagements and paid appearances, “that has not happened.” He told the court he’s “several million dollars” in debt after fighting multiple federal criminal cases and was without a permanent home as of March after his California rental property was impacted by fires in the Pacific Palisades.
Key Background
One of Joe Biden’s most controversial—and widely criticized—decisions of his term came in the final weeks, when he issued a full pardon absolving Hunter Biden of his crimes. Hunter Biden, who was 54 years old at the time, had already been convicted of several felony gun charges and in a federal tax case, and investigations were ongoing into his foreign business dealings. The pardon covered any federal offenses Hunter Biden committed between Jan. 1, 2014 (the year he joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings) and Dec. 1, 2024. Joe Biden was slammed for the move by Republicans—who called it an abuse of power and evidence of a double standard in the justice system—and Democrats, who largely said the pardon undermined Joe Biden’s long-standing message about respecting the rule of law and avoiding favoritism. The president had repeatedly said he would not pardon his son, and the White House indicated he would accept the outcome of Hunter Biden’s ongoing legal cases. The Washington Post called the decision damaging to his legacy, and the New York Times argued he’d put family loyalty ahead of principles he had publicly championed.