Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, arrives at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.
Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, on Thursday blasted Republicans in Congress and right-wing media figures for using his known history of drug abuse to attack his father and launch “fruitless” investigations.
“More than four years ago, I chose life over the slow stranglehold of addiction, which in my case consisted of a bottle of vodka and as many hits on a crack pipe every day,” Hunter Biden wrote in an op-ed. in USAToday.
Biden, 53, wrote that in a country where tens of millions of people struggle with substance abuse, his situation is unique only because his father is the president.
“My struggles and my mistakes have been fodder for a vicious and sustained disinformation campaign against him, and a total destruction of my reputation through high-flying but fruitless congressional investigations,” the younger Biden wrote.
He also struck a disgruntled tone when referring to an ongoing federal criminal case related to his alleged illegal purchase of a gun while he was a drug user.
The charges stem from his “possession of an unloaded gun for 11 days five years ago,” Biden wrote, adding that this “appears to be the first of its kind ever brought in Delaware history ‘.
Biden pleaded not guilty last month to a three-count indictment in the case in a U.S. court in Wilmington, Delaware.
The indictment followed the collapse of a deal with prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid prosecution on gun charges while pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of failing to pay federal income taxes.
The case has come under intense scrutiny in the conservative media and among Republican politicians, who have been investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings and prosecutors’ handling of him, as they allege a sweeping corruption conspiracy involving the entire Biden family is involved.
House Republicans have launched an impeachment inquiry into the president, a move that has drawn fiery condemnations from Democrats and other critics who accuse them of moving forward without sufficient evidence.
“I am not a victim,” Hunter Biden wrote in the op-ed on Thursday. “Regardless, I grew up with privilege and opportunity, and I fully accept that the choices and mistakes I have made are my own, and that I am and will continue to be responsible for them.”
“What concerns me is the demonization of addiction, of human frailty, using myself as an avatar and the devastating impact this has on the millions who struggle with addiction,” he wrote.
Those people are “bombarded by the derogatory and almost constant reporting about me and my addiction” in media such as Fox News and The New York Post, Biden wrote. He cited data showing that Fox has covered him twice as much as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a high-profile Republican presidential candidate.
“The weaponization of my addiction by partisan and cowardly factions poses a real threat to those who desperately want to get sober but fear what awaits them when they do,” Hunter Biden wrote.
“The effort to recover is something to be celebrated, and I hope that despite my role as a punchline and punching bag for some, others will also make the effort I have made one day at a time, and be honest with themselves and be honest are.” the people who love and rely on them,” he wrote.