President Joe Biden is standing by his embattled son Hunter Biden despite the prospect of the Justice Department indicting him on tax charges and for apparently making a false statement regarding a gun purchase.
During a rare televised interview, Joe Biden was adamant he did not know about the events that could lead to his son being prosecuted as part of a four-year Justice Department investigation.
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“Turns out that when he made [the] application to purchase a gun, what happened was he say — I guess you get asked — I don’t guess, you get asked a question, are you on drugs, or do you use drugs? He said no. And he wrote about saying no,” Biden said Tuesday.
Regardless of the political problems Hunter Biden is likely to create for his father, the president repeated he is proud of his son. The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal reported last week that federal agents are confident they have enough evidence to charge the younger Biden.
“This is a kid who got, not a kid — he’s a grown man,” Joe Biden said. “He got hooked on — like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life. … He’s on the straight and narrow.”
In a previewed clip, Biden also explained he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is a rational actor, revealing himself not to be a subscriber of the so-called “mad man” theory many people have used to describe the strongman.
“I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly,” Biden said. “I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv.”
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Biden had the interview, his third TV sitdown this year, after the Group of Seven convened an emergency meeting Tuesday that focused on Russia and Ukraine.