Biden 'enabled' Hunter's 'various schemes' says scathing Washington Post op-ed: 'Real problem for his father'

A Washington Post op-ed argued that Hunter Biden’s many "drug and mental health problems" may be emblematic of President Joe Biden’s "compassion for his son and enabling parenting style."

"Hunter Biden has gone from being an embarrassment to a real problem for his father," Joe Klein noted in a Washington Post opinion piece published Tuesday. 

The op-ed, headlined, "How Joe Biden’s compassion for his son blew up in his face," argued that the president was partially responsible for his son Hunter’s personal struggles with drugs and other issues. 

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"In the history of squalid presidential siblings and spawn, young Biden has lapped the field," Klein wrote, calling out Hunter Biden for his "lifetime of dependence and depravity." 

"The president’s son is an open wound. He suffers from Cain syndrome," he continued, scolding Hunter for the "drugs and gun, the bawdy selfies, the flagrant attempts to make hay off his name, especially when his humble-bragging father called himself ‘the poorest man in Congress.’"

Klein wrote that while he found it "hard to believe" that Joe Biden was privy to his "son’s nefarious schemes," he still "enabled them." 

"What on earth was Hunter Biden doing on that 2013 plane to China with his father, then the vice president? Why, after all of Hunter Biden’s dealings with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, did Joe Biden countenance hundreds of thousands of dollars in "art sales" by his son in recent years, art — to my untrained eye — best displayed on the walls of budget motels? Who bought the stuff and why?" 

But Hunter's legal troubles now extend beyond questionable reports of art deals. House Republicans have started an investigation into the Justice Department’s plea deal with Hunter Biden. The deal was stopped in its tracks after Judge Maryellen Noreika declined to accept the plea deal in Hunter's first court appearance in July. 

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Klein claimed that the White House could not shrug off Hunter Biden’s "various depravities by saying that he ‘is a private citizen, and this was a private matter.’" 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that Hunter Biden is "a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him," referring to his highly publicized court appearance in Delaware. "As we have said, the president, the first lady, they love their son, and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life," Jean-Pierre said.

"The attempt to peddle influence is a very public matter. The struggle to deal with a family member brought low by drugs is a public issue," Klein wrote, pushing back on Jean-Pierre's attempt to shield Hunter Biden. 

In The Washington Post op-ed, Klein also wrote that Joe Biden’s soft treatment of his son may cost him re-election. 

"Joe Biden’s response to his wayward son conveys a softness, a permissiveness that damages his public reputation — and might cost him votes in an election where everything is at stake."

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Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick, Brandon Gillespie and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.