‘Trying to destroy a presidency': Hunter Biden slams Republican critics post indictment

US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden has said critics of his father are “trying to destroy a presidency” through relentless attacks on him and also “trying to kill me,” in a podcast interview released on Friday.

The interview, conducted by his friend, the musician Moby, was released one day after the US Justice Department filed new criminal charges against Hunter, accusing him of failing to pay taxes while funding a lavish lifestyle. It was not clear when the interview, which took place at the younger Biden’s art studio in San Francisco, was recorded.

The charges on Thursday come on top of a September 14 indictment against Hunter Biden for lying about his drug use during his purchase of a firearm. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Hunter Biden, 53, has also been at the centre of an impeachment inquiry into his father by Republicans in the House of Representatives. House Republicans allege that Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his family improperly profited from policy decisions he participated in when he was vice president during President Barack Obama’s administration in 2009-17.

“I recognize that none of this is necessarily about me,” Hunter Biden said. “In their most base way, what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to kill me, knowing that it will be a pain greater than my father could be able to handle, and so therefore destroying a presidency in that way.”

His father is running for re-election in November 2024. The leading contender for the Republican nomination is former President Donald Trump, who has cheered the Biden impeachment inquiry.

Donald Trump was the first US president to be impeached twice, and was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Hunter Biden said some of his Republican critics, such as U.S. Representatives Paul Gosar and Marjorie Taylor Greene, were “not healthy people”. “I’ve never witnessed anything like it,” Hunter Biden said. “I’ve never witnessed the level of an invasion of privacy on any individual that I can possibly think of. I’ve never witnessed a sustained attack on one person like this,” he added.