President Biden’s younger sister Valerie Biden Owens is blaming supporters of former President Donald Trump for the scrutiny that her nephew, Hunter Biden, is receiving related to contents from his laptop and a federal investigation into his taxes and foreign business deals.
Mrs. Owens said she does not think the younger Biden brought upon himself the various scandals that have engulfed the family. Instead, in an interview with USA Today on Sunday, she blamed conservatives for lobbing unfair personal attacks at him.
“Trump and his right-wing followers have continued to do whatever they can to discredit the family and therefore to bring Joe down,” she said.
“Hunter walked through hell. He didn’t wake up and say, ’Aunt Val, I think I’m going to be an addict. And so whatever happens, it’s my responsibility,’” she said, lauding her nephew for having “courage” and “strength” to overcome his addictions to crack cocaine and alcohol.
President Biden’s younger sister, who helped raise Hunter and his older brother Beau after the boys lost their mother as young children in a fatal auto accident, is on a book tour for her new memoir, “Growing Up Biden: A Memoir.”
Mrs. Owens also defended her brother from criticism over how he delivers his remarks.
“My brother’s a stutterer, and he still stutters and tries to get things out,” she said. “And what did really make me mad and drive me crazy was when he would go to speak, and there would be a hesitancy, and the critique from the bad guys, the right wing, was that he’s not smart; he didn’t know what he was saying.”
According to the president’s sister, she often talks to him at around 10 p.m.
“When he calls, I don’t talk about what happened with Putin today,” she said. “We talk about family.
Mrs. Owens worked as a campaign manager for all seven of the elder Biden’s Senate campaigns. She also served as a senior political adviser to her brother during all three of his presidential campaigns. Additionally, President Barack Obama nominated her as an advisor to the United Nations 71st General Assembly.
Republicans, including Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have discussed on the Senate floor various Chinese business deals set up by Hunter Biden and James Biden, his uncle, and questioned how the president’s family could financially benefit from Communist Chinese regime through alleged influence peddling.
Sixty-seven House Republicans last month sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for him to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden.
The federal probe into Hunter Biden was first launched in 2018 and is moving quickly as prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware are reportedly looking into grand jury testimony related to sources of his overseas income.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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