Hunter Biden sat down with ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ and spoke about his drug addiction, his relationship with sister-in-law Hallie Biden, the ongoing FBI investigation into his finances and his decision to join the board of Burisma.
‘I spent more times on my hands and knees picking through rugs smoking anything that even remotely resembled crack cocaine. I probably smoked more parmesan cheese than anyone that you know,’ the president’s son said with a laugh, as he told Tracy Smith about his battles with addiction.
The younger Biden recalled how his father staged an intervention for him during his time as vice president. ‘He sort of ditched the Secret Service,’ Hunter Biden recalled, with the now-president telling his son that, ‘You’re not fine.’
Hunter Biden sat down with ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ and spoke about his drug addiction, his relationship with sister-in-law Hallie Biden, the ongoing FBI investigation into his finances and his decision to join the board of Burisma
In a teaser released Friday for another portion of the interview, Hunter Biden spoke about a second intervention, in which the then-2020 presidential candidate chased his son down the driveway, sobbing, begging him to stop using drugs.
Smith asked about the FBI’s current probe into Hunter Biden’s taxes, which came to light in December during the transition. Hunter Biden released a statement through the Biden-Harris transition office at the time.
He told CBS that he couldn’t discuss much about the case.
‘I can say this. I’m cooperating completely and I’m absolutely certain, 100 per cent certain, that at the end of the investigation that I will be cleared of any wrongdoing,’ the president’s son said.
Reporting on that investigation suggests that it deals with Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Chinese firms.
As for his business in Ukraine, Hunter Biden said he didn’t believe taking a spot on Ukrainian energy company Burisma’s board was a mistake.
‘No, I don’t think I made a mistake taking a spot on that board,’ he said. ‘I think I made a mistake in terms of underestimating the – the way in which it would be used against me.’
Smith pushed back, suggesting it was hard to believe that Hunter Biden didn’t realize that optics could look bad.
‘I’m being as honest with you as I possibly can,’ Hunter Biden replied. ‘All I know, is that not one investigative body, not one serious journalist have ever accused – has ever come to the conclusion that I did anything wrong, or that my father did anything wrong.’
Former President Donald Trump made Burisma a household name, floating to rally crowds that Hunter Biden was getting rich on his name – and that Joe Biden intervened and got a Ukrainian prosecutor fired for wanting to investigate Burisma to protect his son.
As he does in his forthcoming memoir, ‘Beautiful Things,’ he explained what compelled him to start dating Hallie, the widow of Beau Biden.
‘I think people were confused by that. And I understand that,’ he said. ‘It came out of a real overwhelming grief that we both shared. And we were together and trying to do the right thing and that grief turned into a hope for a love that maybe could replace what we lost.’
‘And it didn’t work. It didn’t work,’ he said.
He added, ‘I made a lot of decisions that I probably shouldn’t have made.’
Smith said that Hunter Biden told her that he had been sober since marrying his second wife, Melissa Cohen.
Hunter Biden said that he talked to his father everynight – and that the president called all the grandkids daily too.
‘By the way, he’s always done that,’ Hunter Biden said. ‘Because he lost – because he, like me, knows what it’s like not to be able to pick up the phone and talk to your son,’ Hunter Biden said, choking up.
Smith pointed out that, ‘He almost lost you.’
‘Yeah, yeah. Yeah,’ Hunter Biden agreed. ‘It’s hard.’
‘I’m a Biden, we cry too much,’ he added.
