Hunter Biden Accuses GOP Of 'Weaponizing' His Addiction To Hurt His Father

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has accused Republicans of "weaponizing" his "mistakes" and struggles with drug and alcohol addiction by engaging in a supposed "vile and sustained disinformation" campaign against his father.

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee has been investigating President Biden for allegedly profiting off his family's business dealings, something the president has repeatedly denied.

But Republicans aren't buying President Biden's denials, with the committee continuing to release on a regular basis evidence—including questionable payments to the president from members of his family—suggesting President Biden was lying.

The steady trickle of evidence, which includes bank records, has been weighing on public opinion, with a recent poll showing that a majority of Americans believe that President Biden acted either illegally or unethically in how he handled the international business dealings of his son, Hunter Biden.

Not only that, but House Republicans have launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over his alleged ties to his son's business affairs.

In light of all the investigative—and reputational—pressure facing the president, Mr. Hunter Biden penned an op-ed published in USA Today on Nov. 2, accusing Republicans of going after his father via "political weaponization" of "my mistakes" and struggles with addiction.

"My struggles and my mistakes have been fodder for a vile and sustained disinformation campaign against him, and an all-out annihilation of my reputation through high-pitched but fruitless congressional investigations," he wrote.

While "high-pitched" may be on point—after all the House Oversight Committee has been vocal about the findings of its corruption investigation into the president—but Mr. Hunter Biden's charge that the probe has been "fruitless" is harder to defend.

The House Oversight Committee has released over 20 examples of evidence tying the president to his son's business dealings.

"What troubles me is the demonization of addiction, of human frailty, using me as its avatar and the devastating consequences it has for the millions struggling with addiction, desperate for a way out and being bombarded by the denigrating and near-constant coverage of me and my addiction" by media outlets like Fox News and The New York Post.

The Post was the outlet that published a bombshell story about the now-infamous Hunter Biden laptop, whose contents hinted that the president was involved in his son's business dealings as the "Big Guy" referred to in emails that were reportedly found on the device's hard drive.

"Political weaponization of my addiction hurts more than me," Mr. Hunter Biden wrote. "My struggles and my mistakes have been fodder for a vile and sustained disinformation campaign against my father, President Joe Biden, and an all-out annihilation of my reputation."

While Mr. Hunter Biden's reputation has most likely suffered from the extensive media coverage of the embarrassing contents of the laptop—and the criminal gun and tax charges that he faces—it's less what "disinformation" he may be referring to in regards to his father.

While the evidence produced by the House Oversight Committee in regards to President Biden hasn't, by most accounts, produced smoking gun proof that the president was involved in his family's business dealings, what has been produced thus far suggests President Biden was—contrary to his denials—involved.

The evidence Mr. Comer revealed is a bank record of a $200,000 personal check to President Biden for "loan repayment," issued by his brother and sister-in-law, James and Sara Biden, dated March 1, 2018.

According to Mr. Comer, this direct payment could be the strongest evidence yet that President Biden may have been directly involved in his family's business dealings, a thesis that underpins the committee's investigation.

"This summer, Joe Biden said: 'Where's the money?'" Mr. Comer said in an Oct. 20 statement. "Well, we found some."

On the same date that is featured on the check to President Biden, a company called Americore wired a $200,000 loan to James and Sara Biden's personal bank account.

Meanwhile, court documents show that James Biden received $600,000 in loans from Americore "based upon representations that his last name, 'Biden', could 'open doors' and that he could obtain a large investment from the Middle East based on his political connections."

Implying that the check was for something other than a loan repayment, Mr. Comer has called on President Biden to prove that he lent such a large sum of money to his brother and to disclose the terms of their financial arrangement.

"Did he have similar financial arrangements with other family members that led them to make similar large payments to him?" Mr. Comer asked, adding that there are more bank records that the committee will disclose in due time as it continues to "follow the money."

"Even if this was a personal loan repayment, it's still troubling that Joe Biden's ability to be paid back by his brother depended on the success of his family's shady financial dealings," Mr. Comer said.

"There is mounting evidence that Joe Biden was involved in his family's influence peddling schemes, including while he served as Vice President," the committee said in a statement.

"Democrats and their corporate media allies continue to ignore this overwhelming evidence as they seek to distract the American people from the Biden family’s corruption," the panel added.

While on the campaign trail, then-presidential candidate Mr. Joe Biden insisted that he had no role whatsoever in his son's business dealings.

But that claim has been challenged on a number of occasions. First, there were the revelations of the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop, then statements made by Mr. Hunter Biden's former business associate Tony Bobulinski, and more recently by the explosive disclosures made by Devon Archer, former business partner of the president's son.

A readout of some of Mr. Archer's key revelations from July 31 closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee include that Mr. Hunter Biden put his father, who was then Vice President, on speakerphone during business meetings over 20 times and that the elder Biden was put on the call to sell "the brand."

The White House downplayed the significance of Mr. Archer's testimony, with spokesperson Ian Sams saying it failed to provide the kind of bombshell evidence of wrongdoing that Republicans claimed.

"He was aware of Hunter's business. He met with Hunter's business partners," Mr. Archer said. He insisted that the claim that the president was in no way involved in his son's business affairs is "not factually right."

Mr. Archer did provide the following caveat, however.

"In the same breath, there's no ... I don't think Joe Biden has looked at a balance sheet or a cap table or what have you or any financial document probably ever," Mr. Archer said, suggesting that the president's involvement in Hunter Biden's business affairs wasn't about handling money but helping his son peddle influence.

Further, in a memorandum to Republicans released ahead of the first impeachment hearing into President Biden, GOP leaders noted that they've gathered evidence that the Biden family and their associates received more than $24 million from 2014 to 2019. President Biden served as vice president until early 2017.

The money was transmitted "through an exceedingly complex chain of transactions that made it difficult to track the flow of these funds," they said in the memo.

And more recently, bank records and other documents suggest that a $40,000 payment President Biden received from his brother in 2017 may have originated from a Chinese firm and moved through a series of entities controlled by members of the Biden family.