“The View” co-hosts on Monday attempted to defend Hunter Biden attending a state dinner with his father after pleading guilty to criminal charges earlier in June.
The younger Biden attended a White House State dinner Thursday night after pleading guilty to illegally purchasing a gun while using drugs and failing to pay federal taxes in 2017 and 2018. As he received criticism from conservative figures, the co-hosts attempted to excuse his attendance by arguing President Joe Biden is trying to protect his son from his drug addiction.
“Look, I’ve know Joe Biden since he was a senator, for about 20-something years,” co-host Ana Navarro began. “I can’t tell you how much his life has been marked by losing not one child, but two children. And once you’ve lost a child, I think you are absolutely determined, it’s even more urgent, it’s even a bigger issue, that you will not lose another one. The Hunter Biden story, the scandal, the this, the that, it’s also the story of a father’s love. And Joe Biden has never and will never give up on his son, Hunter, and will never treat him lesser than. And so he is a father first, take it or leave it. That’s who he is, that is part of his heart.”
“There were 380 people at this dinner, it’s not like Hunter was sitting at Merrick Garland’s lap,” she continued. “There was a bunch of people, and I think part of the reason that Hunter Biden has been able to get out of addiction is because Joe Biden embraced him entirely, the entire time — when he was vice president, when he was [a] candidate, when he was out of office, and now as president.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin argued Biden wants his son close by because of his struggle with addiction. She then turned to former President Donald Trump’s family by arguing that Ivanka Trump receiving patents from Chinese President Xi Jinping was an example of “true nepotism,” while Biden is simply trying to protect his son from addiction. (RELATED: ‘No One Is Above The Law’: Sunny Hostin Defends Hunter Biden Charges)
“What seems to get lost in all of this discussion about Hunter Biden is his addiction,” Hostin said. “He’s an addict. He’s had this addiction for many years and to various things. And I wonder where our compassion is, and people talking about, ‘Well this is nepotism,’ and perhaps it is, and I hate nepotism. I think that things should be earned and not given. But no one wants to talk about the fact that Ivanka got three Chinese patents after her dinner with President Xi from China at Mar-a-Lago. … That is true nepotism and this is, I think, like you [Navarro] said, a father trying to keep his son, who suffers from addiction, close.”
Co-host Sara Haines had a different perspective, arguing the younger Biden should have stayed home rather than attend the high-profile dinner. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said his attendance could increase the public’s distrust of the Department of Justice.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said it is possible Biden’s son did not want to go to the dinner, but attended because his father wanted him to.