Alcohol, drugs, pets and business; families can cause headaches in the White House

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden whose plea deal on charges of tax evasion and illegal gun possession was made public Tuesday, is not the first relative of a president whose personal problems have come to a head. headlines and caused headaches in the White House.

Biden Jr. will plead guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion in a deal that also allows him to avoid a full trial on a felony charge of illegal possession of a firearm while a drug user, as long as he abides by certain conditions. The settlement ends a lengthy Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden, who has long been known to have addiction problems.

The children of US leaders often arouse fascination and curiosity, and the public is very aware of any move they make.

Former President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr., for example, made headlines for meeting with Russian operatives who offered damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Sometimes conspicuous behavior is nothing more than mischief, as in the case of little Quentin Roosevel (son of Teddy), who rolled his toy wagon around a painting of the First Lady. Or Alice Roosevelt, Quentin’s sister, who used foul language, went to parties with her pet snake, and was so intent on smoking in the White House that she once called a rooftop press conference and lit a cigarette there. .

“One of two: I can lead the country or take care of Alice, but maybe not both,” the president commented in a phrase that became famous.

Other misconduct by sons of presidents has been more serious and has broken the law.

Jenna and Barbara, President George W. Bush’s twins, were fined and penalized for violating alcohol laws in 2001. Jenna Bush Hager, who now works as a television host for NBC, described during a conversation on “Today with Hoda & Jenna” her father’s reaction when she tried to apologize.

“When I called dad to say, ‘I’m really sorry,’…he said, ‘No, I’m sorry,’” according to Bush Hager. “He said, ‘I’m sorry, I told you you could be normal, and you can’t. You can’t order margaritas.’”

“We shamed them on the world stage, even if they never said it,” he added.

Both John Adams, the second president of the United States, and his son John Quincy Adams, the sixth, had children who suffered from alcoholism. George W. Bush, also the son of a future president, was arrested for drunk driving in 1976 when he was 30, and decided to give up alcohol a decade later.

For several presidents, the financial transactions of their relatives have resulted in unpleasant publicity.

One notable example was that of Billy Carter, the younger brother of President Jimmy Carter, who was a beer aficionado and gained notoriety for making racist and anti-Semitic statements when he registered as a paid Libyan government agent and accepted $220,000 from Tripoli.

After Billy Carter described Libyans as “the best friends I have in the world right now,” his actions were investigated by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted unanimously to establish a panel to investigate the deals. of the president’s brother abroad. The commission at that time included the young senator Joe Biden.

Richard Nixon once asked the CIA to “completely cover” his brother Donald, whose business relationships, the president said, had damaged him electorally, according to books written by former Nixon aides. Although the CIA declined, the Secret Service agreed to keep an eye on Donald, who had ties to billionaire Howard Hughes and once received a $205,000 loan from him.

Neil Bush, one of the six sons of President George HW Bush, was an outside director of a failed savings and loan association investigated by federal regulatory authorities in the 1990s. He did not face criminal charges, but agreed to help solve a case filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as one of a dozen defendants in a negligence lawsuit.

Neil Bush had faced accusations of conflict of interest for his position at the Silverado Bank, Savings and Loan Association in Denver, which he repeatedly denied. He assured that he was unfairly targeted for being the son of a president.

Former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s brothers—Tony and Hugh Rodham—were publicly reprimanded by their brother-in-law’s government for the planned creation of a company to export hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia with the assistance of a political rival of Eduard Shevardnadze, who ruled that country at that time.

Although the Clinton White House distanced itself from those deals, it did not hesitate to offer presidential assistance to other members of the family.

Shortly before leaving office in 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger, for a 1985 drug offense that included conspiring to distribute cocaine. The president said that conviction helped change Roger Clinton’s life, telling then-U.S. Attorney Asa Hutchinson, now seeking the Republican presidential nomination, that the episode possibly saved his brother’s life.

“The trial was very hard on the family and then-Governor Clinton reacted like a loving brother would,” Hutchinson told The Associated Press at the time. “I haven’t been following Roger closely, but I know he made an effort to change course.”