Hunter Biden said his commitment to sobriety is crucial to his father’s reelection in 2024 as President Joe Biden has reportedly expressed concern Hunter could relapse, the first son said in an interview with Axios.
Hunter Biden, who has previously struggled with addiction, has been the main focus of the House Oversight and Judiciary committee’s impeachment inquiry into his father. The first son is set to appear before the committee in a closed door deposition Wednesday. President Biden is reportedly worried that the “attacks” from House Republicans will lead to his son’s relapse. (RELATED: Joe Biden Spent Decades Villainizing People Like His Son)
But Hunter Biden is aware of the weight of his sobriety, telling Axios in an interview that his ability to stay clean plays a crucial role in the “future of democracy.”
“Most importantly, you have to believe that you’re worth the work, or you’ll never be able to get sober. But I often do think of the profound consequences of failure here,” Hunter told Axios.
“I have something much bigger than even myself at stake. We are in the middle of a fight for the future of democracy.”
President Biden has repeatedly made the “ongoing threats to democracy” a center of his 2024 reelection messaging. (RELATED: Biden Compares Jan 6 Protesters To Confederate Soldiers, Dubs It Second ‘Lost Cause’)
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs a House Oversight Committee meeting at Capitol Hill on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. The committee is meeting today as it considers citing him for Contempt of Congress. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The first son is currently facing 12 criminal charges total, nine in California and three in Delaware. Out of the nine tax-related charges in California, three of them are felonies. In Delaware, Hunter faces three felony gun charges. Hunter Biden, who has a history of crack cocaine addiction, pledged in federal court that he had been sober since June 1, 2019.
During his Wednesday deposition with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and actions during his drug addiction between 2013 and 2018 are expected to be the focal point of his testimony, according to Axios.
After former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced in Sept. 2023 that House Republicans would move forward with an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, the House passed a resolution in Dec. 2023 to initiate the process. Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer is leading the inquiry into Biden and has previously argued in a press release that there is a “mountain of evidence” laying out how President Biden used his vice presidency to benefit his family financially.
President Biden is trailing former President Donald Trump in several hypothetical head-to-head matchups ahead of the 2024 election. Concerns about Biden’s age have also continued to dominate the conversation, as 76% of American voters worry about the president’s age and health going into the 2024 election, according to a Feb. 6 NBC poll.
“Maybe it’s the ultimate test for a recovering addict — I don’t know,” Hunter Biden told Axios about the importance of his sobriety. “I have always been in awe of people who have stayed clean and sober through tragedies and obstacles few people ever face. They are my heroes, my inspiration.”