President Joe Biden made an unexpected visit to his daughter-in-law’s home just days before she is set to testify in her former lover and brother-in-law Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial.
Hallie Biden, the widow of Biden’s late son Beau Biden, is scheduled to testify on June 3 regarding the criminal charges against Hunter, who faces accusations of lying on a federal form about his drug use during the purchase of a firearm in 2018.
Accompanied by the White House press pool in a van, Biden visited Hallie’s Delaware home on Saturday night for what seemed to be a private conversation.
The White House asserted to the New York Post that the visit was unrelated to Hallie’s upcoming testimony and was instead linked to the anniversary of Beau’s death.
“He visited her because of the approaching 9th anniversary of Beau’s passing,” stated White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.
Although Biden has attended several public events to commemorate the anniversary of Beau’s death in recent years, his schedule does not indicate a tradition of visiting his daughter-in-law around this time.
Biden has previously used Beau’s death in political contexts, but Hallie’s involvement as a key witness in Hunter’s trial raises questions about the timing of this visit. Biden has been credited by Hunter and his partners for managing the family’s public image.
Hallie, who entered into a relationship with Hunter after Beau’s passing in 2015, is expected to testify because she was romantically involved with the defendant in October 2018” and because Hunter “stayed at her home in fall 2018,” the same period as the disputed firearm purchase.
At Hunter’s behest, Biden supported the relationship between his sons’ widow and Hunter in 2017. During their relationship, the couple faced numerous issues including addiction problems and conflicts, one of which led Hallie to dispose of Hunter’s firearm near a school, involving the Secret Service. They eventually parted ways after Hunter’s involvement with a stripper resulted in his seventh child.
Biden’s “surprise” visit to Hallie’s home occurred shortly after Hunter attended a state dinner with Attorney General Merrick Garland, who appointed Special Counsel David Weiss to handle the Biden case.
Weiss told the House Judiciary Committee in November that “political considerations played no part in our decisionmaking” regarding the Hunter investigation, though the DOJ’s effort to offer Hunter a lenient plea deal suggests otherwise.
