Tipsheet

Some 'Private Citizen': Motorcade for Hunter Biden Gets People Talking

While it's understandable that the American people have questions about Hunter Biden's very real legal woes, the White House just can't be bothered. Throughout this week's press briefings thus far, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has doubled down on how the first son is "a private citizen," whose legal issues are "a personal matter," and President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden love their son very much. 

As an immediate family member of the president, Hunter is entitled to Secret Service protection. When it comes to the benefits he's been receiving though, as "a private citizen," people have definitely been taking notice. 

Except it's not just the motorcade. Hunter Biden has spent a considerable amount of time at the White House. He, and the president's other adult children and grandchildren, may even have been living there. Hunter Biden has also been seen traveling with the president. Such closeness also leads to more unanswered questions about just how involved the president is with his son's business dealings, as well as if the cocaine found at the White House earlier this month could have belonged to Hunter

From whose cocaine it was that was discovered, speaking to legal battles involving the first son, and how the president himself may have been involved, there has been a serious lack of transparency from this White House. Jean-Pierre still has the gall, though, to claim that Biden is made available, something that even The New York Times has noticed, and which Townhall also fact-checked

It's even further related in that when asked during Wednesday's press conference if she had seen the president since Hunter Biden's court appearance, and if he had a reaction Jean-Pierre responded with her usual narrative, which included how the president and first lady "support him as he’s rebuilding his life and trying to move forward." As Jean-Pierre revealed, she had "not spoken to the President today," offering that "he has been busy continuing to work on behalf of the American people, as he does every day, with internal meetings."

Does Jean-Pierre expect anyone to actually believe that? Evidently, she does, considering that when confronted by another reporter about the president's empty schedule, the press secretary pointed to one interview he did.

Part of the lack of problem from this White House has involved the over-reliance on certain narratives, such as how this case that was supposedly handled "independently," involved U.S. Attorney David Weiss, appointed by former President Donald Trump. While Weiss was indeed appointed by Trump, there have been many unanswered questions as to what kind of authority he had, especially within this politicized Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Biden administration. 

"Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him. As we have said, the President, the First Lady — they love their son, and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life. This case was handled independently, as all of you know, by the Justice Department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump," Jean-Pierre said at the top of Wednesday's press briefing, not long before National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby took the podium.

However "personal" to him that Hunter Biden's legal matters as "a private citizen" may be, the American people have very real questions when it comes to if the president has been involved in his son's business dealings, especially from when he was vice president. On that issue, Jean-Pierre has also engaged in gaslighting about how the narrative has not changed, when it in fact very much has. And that's if she's even willing to speak to the matter at all.