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Michelle Obama has expressed private frustration with the Bidens over the treatment of her friend Kathleen Buhle after her divorce from Hunter Biden. It has made her reluctant to openly campaign for the president, according to a new report.
The former first lady became friends with Buhle while her husband was in office and Joe Biden was his vice president, and they have since remained close. Hunter Biden and Buhle separated in 2015 and divorced in 2017. Buhle wrote in her memoir "If We Break" about his addictions and infidelity fracturing their marriage, and she was "largely exiled" from the family after their split, according to the Axios report.
According to the report, the Biden family was irked by Buhle's book, although it came out a year after Hunter Biden's 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things," which delved into his addiction issues.
Former first lady Michelle Obama. (Jean Catuffe/GC Images)
Axios also reported in 2017 that former President Obama attended a Wilmington, Delaware, fundraiser for the Beau Biden Foundation, a children's advocacy group. At the time, the recently divorced Hunter Biden was dating his late brother's widow, Hallie Biden. According to a source who spoke to Axios, Obama described the dynamics on display as "weird s--t," although he has since denied making such a statement.
Michelle Obama privately told others she felt Buhle had been wronged in the aftermath of the marriage's collapse, and she has not been out front on the campaign trail for President Biden as he faces his re-election battle against former President Trump. She does active work with a voter registration group, however, and she hasn't been campaigning for anyone else, either, as it's well-known she dislikes the grind of partisan politics.
The Axios report added that she was even "initially reluctant" to campaign for Biden when he first ran in 2020, although she eventually did and spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Despite the reported frostiness in the relationship, there are discussions about her joining the campaign trail to stump for Biden. Michelle Obama's approval ratings have been generally high, and she's widely viewed as a strong political force by Democrats.
While the families remain united politically — Obama and Biden appeared at a glitzy fundraiser together earlier this month, and there's no question about their mutual opposition to Trump — the relationship changed in 2015 when Obama discouraged Biden from running for president, clearing the path for eventual nominee Hillary Clinton.
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Kathleen Buhle, ex-wife of Hunter Biden, departs from the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 4.
Obama's camp has stressed it was partly about looking out for Biden's well-being, as he was in grief that year over the death of his son Beau.
The White House pushed back on the Axios report in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The Biden and Obama families are like family to each other, and whomever made these claims about that relationship isn’t familiar with it," spokesman Andrew Bates said. "The former President and First Lady have been two of the strongest supporters of President Biden’s leadership and agenda."
A spokesperson for Michelle Obama also responded to the report in a statement to Fox News Digital, noting first lady Jill Biden traveled to the memorial service this week for Obama's mother, Marian Robinson.
President Biden and Hunter Biden appear during the Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 1. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"Mrs. Obama has already said she supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign," said the former first lady's communications director, Crystal Carson. "She is friends with Kathleen and with the Bidens. Two things can be true. On Monday, Dr. Biden graciously joined the family to celebrate the life of Mrs. Marian Robinson."
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Fox News Digital reached out to Buhle for comment.
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