Hunter Biden says US Republican critics are 'trying to destroy a presidency'

[December 09, 2023]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden said critics of his father are "trying to destroy a presidency" through relentless attacks on him and "trying to kill me," in a podcast interview released on Friday.

The interview, conducted by his friend, the musician Moby, was released one day after the U.S. Justice Department filed new criminal charges against Hunter Biden, accusing him of failing to pay taxes while funding a lavish lifestyle. It was not clear when the interview, which took place at the younger Biden's art studio in San Francisco, was recorded.

The charges on Thursday come on top of a Sept. 14 indictment against Hunter Biden for lying about his drug use during his purchase of a firearm. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Hunter Biden, 53, has also been at the center of an impeachment inquiry into his father by Republicans in the House of Representatives. House Republicans allege that Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his family improperly profited from policy decisions he participated in when he was vice president during President Barack Obama's administration in 2009-17.

House Republicans also say the Justice Department improperly interfered with the investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes.

The White House and the Justice Department have denied wrongdoing.

In the interview, Hunter Biden said he and his wife had to move from their home in the middle of the night after a newspaper published their address while his wife was seven or eight months pregnant and supporters of former President Donald Trump appeared outside of their house and pounded on their door.

 Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, walks with his wife, Melissa Cohen, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S, November 24, 2023. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

"I recognize that none of this is necessarily about me," Hunter Biden said. "In their most base way, what they're trying to do is they're trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle, and so therefore destroying a presidency in that way."

His father is running for reelection in November 2024. The leading contender for the Republican nomination is former President Donald Trump, who has cheered the Biden impeachment inquiry. Trump was the first U.S. president to be impeached twice, and was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Hunter Biden said some of his Republican critics, such as U.S. Representatives Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene, were "not healthy people." Representatives for the lawmakers did not respond to requests for comment.

"I've never witnessed anything like it," Hunter Biden said. "I've never witnessed the level of an invasion of privacy on any individual that I can possibly think of. I've never witnessed a sustained attack on one person like this."

(Reporting by Makini Brice; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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