Joe Biden’s sister defends his son Hunter and says Trump only wants to harm family

Comes as the youngest Biden son has faced troubles with ethics investigations and addiction

President Joe Biden’s sister Valerie Biden Owens defended her nephew and the president’s son Hunter in an interview with CBS News, saying the attacks were an attempt by former president Donald Trump to bring her brother down.

Ms Owens appeared in an interview with CBS News’ Gayle King to promote her memoir about growing up with her brother, whose campaigns she has closely advised. Ms King asked about whether the president’s sole surviving son Hunter Biden, whom Republicans are targeting and who is currently under a federal investigation, is a liability.

“The only race I wasn’t enthusiastic about Joe getting involved in was the 2020 presidency,” she said. “Because I expected and was not disappointed that it would be ugly and mean and it would be an attack on my brother Joe personally and professionally because the former president is very intent on bringing my brother down,” she said.

In response, Ms King asked what that had to do with the president’s son.

“I assumed from the beginning that the former president and his entourage would attack my brother by going and attacking the family,” he said. “He thought that the weak link would be to attack my brother’s child.”

Ms Owens said that her nephew has written explicitly about his difficulties with addiction, which Mr Trump hit Mr Biden on during the first general election debate in September of 2020.

“I am so grateful that he has been able to walk out of hell,” she said.

In response, Ms King said that the main question was not about the younger Biden’s addiction but about his business dealings.

“There hasn’t been a there there since it was mentioned in 2019,” she said.

The younger Biden’s business dealings have been a source of scrutiny for his business dealings. When Mr Trump was in office, he tried to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The Washington Post reported earlier this month that a federal grand jury heard testimony about payments he received when on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.