Hunter Biden shopped reality TV show in 2019 as dad ran for president: new book

President Biden's son Hunter Biden pitched television producers on his own reality show during the summer of 2019, according to a new book on insider Democratic politics.

The book, "Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump" by Edward-Isaac Dovere, was released Tuesday. 

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"A few weeks after the chair set aside for [Hunter Biden] by the stage at Biden’s campaign launch event in Philadelphia had stayed empty, he and his new wife spent the summer of 2019 in meetings with producers about a hazy concept they had for a reality TV show to highlight his charity work, which he said would also help soften his father's image," Dovere wrote. "He’s OK with this? one of the producers remembers asking Hunter. ‘I know where the line is,’ he said. ‘And my dad is understanding of what I am up to.’"

Biden became the Democratic nominee "almost in spite of Hunter," Dovere wrote.

"If Beau [Biden] didn't need Joe, Hunter had spent his life trading on his father's name," he wrote. "Joe was protective, always stepping in to help him along. When Biden was in the Senate, Hunter got a job at the Commerce Department. He got an appointment to the Amtrak board of directors. He was a lobbyist who managed to attract some heavy-hitter clients who were hoping for help from his sheen."

Former President Trump capitalized on Hunter Biden's past during the 2020 campaign. At one point, Trump told Biden, "You owe an explanation to the American people" about Hunter Biden's past business dealings as Biden denied anything "unethical" took place.

The Biden team anticipated a "campaign from hell" thanks to his son's antics, according to the book. Hunter Biden booked TV and newspaper interviews without the campaign's knowledge, Dovere wrote.

But his connections to Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma created the biggest headache for Biden's team.

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"Hunter managed to get a special waiver to join the Navy Reserve at age forty-three and made it a month into his commission as an ensign before testing positive for cocaine. Then he somehow received an administrative, rather than dishonorable, discharge. Hunter had no background in the natural resources business. Once he was done with the navy, he just happened to be named to the board of an energy company in the one country that had become his father’s top foreign policy priority. Joe was aware, but not involved, always ready to again trust his son to do it right this time," Dovere wrote.

Hunter Biden is no stranger to the spotlight after publishing his memoir "Beautiful Things" this year. He recently said he's considering penning a sequel.

Fox News' Andrew Murray, Cortney O'Brien and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.