President-elect Joe Biden he said he and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, have “great confidence” in Hunter Biden, who announced last week that federal prosecutors are investigating their “tax matters.” The president-elect made the statements alongside the future first lady on CBS’s “A Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
In the interview, Colbert asked Mr. Biden about the criticism directed at his son.
“What will you do and how will you keep each other from the attacks you know will bring you closer?” Colbert asked. “For example, I know you want to be so bipartisan and get in the hallway, but no matter how much you don’t want to know, people who want to make hay in Washington will try to use your adult child as a cudgel against you. How do you feel? about it and what do you have to say to these people?
“We have a lot of confidence in our son,” Biden told Colbert. “I don’t care about the accusations that have been made against him. It used to come to me. I think it’s a kind of dirty game, but … look, he’s what he is. And he’s an old man, he’s the smartest “Man I know, I mean with pure intellectual capacity. And as long as he’s good, we’re fine.”
Colbert replied, “As a father I understand and admire you. But I mean, in terms of your job as president, can you get down the aisle to people who will use this as an attack on you when it’s like that? A personal attack because it’s family? “
“But if it benefits the country, yes. I mean it,” Biden said. “Because we know who we are.”
Federal Research News related to Hunter Biden’s taxes comes after months of criticism from him of conservatives and allies of the president. Two sources familiar with the investigation have told CBS that the “tax” investigation began in 2018.
At the time the investigation was announced, Hunter Biden, 50, issued a statement saying he believes a review “will show that I handled my matters legally and properly.”
Colbert also asked Mr. Biden about Republicans who have not yet acknowledged that he won the 2020 election.
“Look, they’re in a difficult place,” Biden said. “I know everyone says,‘ Well, they should be strengthened. ’How can I say that? Some of them texted me four weeks ago,‘ Give me time, Joe. Give me some time. “It’s good for me. It’s good for me. We won.”
When asked specifically about Senator Lindsey Graham, Mr. Biden said Graham “has been a personal disappointment, because I was a friend of his.”
But despite the attacks he and his family have faced, Mr Biden said he is confident he will be able to work with leaders on both sides of the aisle to improve the nation.
“He will judge me by history whether or not I can make things better for the American people,” he said. “I will deal with anyone if what we are working on is to improve the well-being of the American people. This is not false, it is real. I will swallow hard and I will.”
This story has been updated to include Colbert’s question to Mr. Biden about his son.