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President Joe Biden's son Hunter was spotted climbing into the presidential SUV on Friday to join his family at Camp David over the July 4 weekend, adding fire to the speculation on why he has so often been seen at the White House.
That came a day after NBC News reported that the president had made it clear to his political aides that he would not listen to advice on limiting public appearances with his embattled son.
Hunter Biden—a frequent target of Republican scrutiny—has been seen with his father regularly since reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors in June to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses.
His regular appearances with the president before and after the agreement was made public have led some to believe he lives at the White House.
Hunter Biden "currently lives at the White House," a conservative wrote in a tweet on Monday that has since racked up more than 2 million views.
Although it is not clear whether the president's son officially resides there, his stays and public appearances have drawn scrutiny from Republicans.
In an op-ed for The New York Post in April, journalist Miranda Devine claimed that Hunter Biden was rumored to be living at the White House with his wife and their 3-year-old son to avoid being served with legal papers from an Arkansas mother of a child he fathered in 2018.
None of the claims in the article have been proven so far.
The child support case was resolved last week, The Associated Press reported. Hunter Biden, who was determined to be the child's father in 2020 following a DNA test, had sought to reduce his monthly child support from $20,000.
As part of the order, he agreed to give an unspecified number of his paintings to the child to keep or sell. The child's mother, Lunden Roberts, withdrew her motion for the child to have Biden's last name.
Last week, Fox reported that none of Hunter Biden's visits or extended stays at the White House from the start of his father's administration through February this year had been marked on visitor logs.
Other Biden family members are also not listed on the visitor logs by the Biden administration, including the president's brothers, his daughter and his granddaughters.
Hunter Biden's trip to Camp David this past weekend was the second weekend in a row that he joined his father at the historic retreat for U.S. leaders.
He also attended last month's White House state dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just days after his plea agreement was made public.
The plea deal will likely spare him from custodial time and would also avert prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions set by prosecutors. He will appear in a Delaware court later this month.
Republicans have asserted that they will continue investigating the president's son no matter what happens with his current criminal case.
Some have criticized the Justice Department's handling of the case, accusing the department of having more stringent standards for conservatives than their Democratic counterparts. U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by Republican former president Donald Trump, has pushed back on those claims.
The White House and an attorney for Hunter Biden have been contacted by Newsweek for comment via email.
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more