President has been at his son’s side ahead of Hunter Biden’s gun trial

In the days and weeks leading up Hunter Biden’s trial on felony gun charges, President Joe Biden made little attempt to distance himself from his son. Instead, Hunter Biden was seen at the White House and in Delaware at his father’s side amid what the president’s allies acknowledge is a difficult moment for both men.

In the days and weeks leading up Hunter Biden’s trial on felony gun charges, President Joe Biden made little attempt to distance himself from his son. Instead, Hunter Biden was seen at the White House and in Delaware at his father’s side amid what the president’s allies acknowledge is a difficult moment for both men. They attended a White House state dinner for Kenya last month; marked the ninth anniversary of the death of Beau Biden, the president’s eldest son, at church last week; and cycled together along a trail in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Saturday. The president also planned to spend most of Monday in Wilmington, where jury selection for the trial – the first of a sitting US president’s child – is set to get underway. He traveled there Sunday evening, arriving earlier than originally planned. Hunter Biden, 54, is accused of illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while abusing or being addicted to drugs, a violation of federal law. He pleaded not guilty to the three charges, though he has been open about his struggles with alcohol and crack cocaine addiction. For the president, the legal problems facing his son have been reason to pull him close, rather than push him away. Joe Biden has paid little mind to some of his allies who question the approach. Instead, his concern for his son’s well-being surpasses any potential political fallout, advisers have said. That concern has appeared at moments to be all-consuming, including in the darkest moments of Hunter Biden’s addiction, when the president and his family desperately sought to head off a self-destructive cycle.