Hunter Biden will plead guilty in a deal that likely averts time behind bars in a tax and gun case
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden will plead guilty to federal tax offenses but avoid full prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars. Hunter Biden, 53, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement made public Tuesday. The agreement will also avert prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions agreed to in court. The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into the taxes and foreign business dealings of President Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have generated days or weeks of distracting headlines for a White House that has strenuously sought to keep its distance from the Justice Department. The president, when asked about the development at a meeting on another subject in California, said simply, “I’m very proud of my son.” The White House counsel’s office said in a statement that the president and first lady Jill Biden “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.” While the agreement requires the younger Biden to admit guilt, the deal is narrowly focused on tax and weapons violations rather than anything broader or tied to the Democratic president. Nonetheless, former President Donald Trump and other Republicans continued to try to use the case to shine an unflattering spotlight on Joe Biden and to raise questions about the independence of the Biden Justice Department. Trump, challenging President Biden in the 2024 presidential race, likened the agreement to a “mere traffic ticket,” adding, “Our system is BROKEN!” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy compared the outcome to the Trump documents case now heading toward federal court and said, “If you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another presidential challenger, used the same term. Two people familiar with the investigation said the Justice Department would recommend 24 months of probation for the tax charges, meaning Hunter Biden will not face time in prison. But the decision to go along with any deal is up to the judge. The people were not authorized to speak publicly by name and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. He is to plead guilty to failing to pay more than $100,000 in taxes on over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018, charges that carry a maximum possible penalty of a year in prison. The back taxes have since been paid, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The gun charge states that Hunter Biden possessed a handgun, a Colt Cobra .38 Special, for 11 days in October 2018 despite knowing he was a drug user. The rarely filed count carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department said Hunter Biden had reached a pretrial agreement. This likely means as long as he adheres to the conditions, the case will be wiped from his record. Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, said in a statement that it was his understanding that the five-year investigation had now been resolved. “I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” Clark said. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.” The agreement comes as the Justice Department pursues perhaps the most consequential case in its history against Trump, the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The resolution of Hunter Biden’s case comes just days after a 37-count indictment against Trump in relation to accusations of mishandling classified documents on his Florida estate. It was filed by a special counsel, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to avoid any potential conflict of interest in the Justice Department. That indictment has nevertheless brought an onslaught of Republican criticism of “politicization” of the Justice Department. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans continue to pursue their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including foreign payments. Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the younger Biden is “getting away with a slap on the wrist,” despite investigations in Congress that GOP lawmakers say show — but have not yet provided evidence of — a pattern of corruption involving the family’s financial ties. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, on the other hand, said the case was thoroughly investigated over five years by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Delaware prosecutor appointed by Trump. Resolution of the case, Coons said, “brings to a close a five-year investigation, despite the elaborate conspiracy theories spun by many who believed there would be much more to this.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was scheduled to campaign with the president Tuesday evening, reaffirmed his support for Biden’s reelection. “Hunter changes nothing,” Newsom told the AP on Tuesday. Misdemeanor tax cases aren’t common, and most that are filed end with a sentence that doesn’t include time behind bars, said Caroline Ciraolo, an attorney who served as head of the Justice Department’s tax division from 2015 to 2017. An expected federal conviction “is not a slap on the wrist,” she said. Gun possession charges that aren’t associated with another firearm crime are also uncommon, said Keith Rosen, a past head of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware. For people without a significant criminal history, the total number of multiple types of illegal possession cases filed every year in Delaware amounts to a handful, he said. The Justice Department’s investigation into the president’s son burst into public view in December 2020, one month after the 2020 election, when Hunter Biden revealed that he had received a subpoena as part of the department’s scrutiny of his taxes. The subpoena sought information on the younger Biden’s business dealings with a number of entities, including
Donald Trump, Joe Biden go on offense in states they’re trying to flip
President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden went on offense Sunday, with each campaigning in states they are trying to flip during the Nov. 3 election that is just over two weeks away. Trump began his day in Nevada, making a rare visit to church before a fundraiser and an evening rally in Carson City. Once considered a battleground, Nevada has not swung for a Republican presidential contender since 2004. The rally drew thousands of supporters who sat elbow to elbow, cheering Trump and booing Biden and the press. The vast majority wore no masks to guard against the coronavirus. The president, as he often does, warned that a Biden election would lead to further lockdowns and at one point appeared to mock Biden for saying he would listen to scientists. “If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression,” Trump said. Biden, a practicing Catholic, attended Mass in Delaware before campaigning in North Carolina, where a Democrat has not won in a presidential race since Barack Obama in 2008. Both candidates are trying to make inroads in states that could help secure a path to victory, but the dynamics of the race are remarkably stable. Biden enjoys a significant advantage in national polls, while carrying a smaller edge in battleground surveys. With Trump seated in the front row at the nondenominational International Church of Las Vegas, the senior associate pastor, Denise Goulet, said God told her the president is the apple of his eye and would secure a second term. “At 4:30, the Lord said to me, ‘I am going to give your president a second win,’” she said, telling Trump, “you will be the president again.” Trump offered brief remarks, saying “I love going to churches” and that it was “a great honor” to attend the service. The president also said that “we have a group on the other side that doesn’t agree with us,” and he urged people to “get out there on Nov. 3 or sooner” to vote. He dropped a wad of $20 bills in the collection plate before leaving. Trump also attended a fundraiser at the Newport Beach home of top GOP donor and tech mogul Palmer Luckey, which raised $12 million for his election. The Beach Boys performed. The message was far different later in the day when Biden attended a virtual discussion with African American faith leaders from around the country. Biden held up a rosary, which he said he carries in his pocket every day, and described it as “what the Irish call a prisoner’s rosary” since it was small enough to be smuggled into prisons. “I happen to be a Roman Catholic,” Biden said. “I don’t pray for God to protect me. I pray to God to give me strength to see what other people are dealing with.” Earlier, at a drive-in rally in Durham, North Carolina, Biden focused heavily on promoting criminal justice changes to combat institutional racism and promised to help build wealth in the Black community. He noted that Trump had said at one of his rallies that the country had turned the corner on the pandemic. “As my grandfather would say, this guy’s gone around the bend if he thinks we’ve turned the corner. Turning the corner? Things are getting worse,” Biden said. In addition to public polling that indicates Biden has an edge, the former vice president enjoys another considerable advantage over Trump: money. Over the past four months, his campaign has raised over $1 billion, and that has enabled him to eclipse Trump’s once-massive cash advantage. That’s become apparent in advertising, where Biden and his Democratic allies are on pace to spend twice as much as Trump and the Republicans in the closing days of the race, according to data from the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG. Though Trump has pulled back from advertising in Midwestern states that secured his 2016 win, he’s invested heavily elsewhere, including North Carolina, where he is on pace to slightly outspend Biden in the days ahead. In Nevada, which Trump came close to winning in 2016, Democrats are set to outspend Trump in the closing days by a more than 3-to-1 ratio. Trump’s visit to the state is part of an aggressive schedule of campaign events, where he has leaned heavily into fear tactics. As he tries to keep more voters from turning against him, Trump has sought to paint Democrats as “anti-American radicals” on a “crusade against American history.” He told moderate voters they had a “a moral duty” to join the Republican Party. If elected, Biden would be only the second Roman Catholic president in U.S. history and first since John F. Kennedy. Biden speaks frequently about his faith and its importance in his life. Biden started his day with Mass in Delaware at St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine, as he does nearly every week. He and his wife, Jill, entered wearing dark-colored face masks. She carried a bunch of flowers that including pink roses. The church is a few minutes’ drive from Biden’s home. Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, is buried in the cemetery on its grounds. Joe and Jill Biden visited the grave after the service. Trump attends church far less often but has drawn strong support from white Evangelical leaders and frequently hosts groups of pastors at the White House. Trump often goes to the Church of Bethesda-By-The Sea near Mar-a-Lago in Florida for major holidays, including Easter, and he attended a Christmas Eve service last year at Family Church in West Palm Beach before the onset of the pandemic. As the virus forced most churches to pause in-person services this spring, Trump announced plans to tune into live-streamed worship led by some leading evangelical supporters, including Texas-based megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress’ Easter service and a March service by Georgia-based pastor Jentezen Franklin. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden courts Latino voters in 1st trip to Florida as nominee
Biden opened the visit in Tampa holding a roundtable with veterans in which he tore into President Donald Trump for reported remarks criticizing the military.
Joe Biden opted out on 2016 Dem race because he ‘couldn’t win’
Vice President Joe Biden says he decided against running for president because he “couldn’t win,” not because he would have had too little time to get a campaign up and running. “I’ll be very blunt. If I thought we could’ve put together the campaign … that our supporters deserve and our contributors deserved, … I would have done it,” he said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” In the wide-ranging interview, in which Biden took questions for a time joined by his wife, Jill, the vice president also said he would not have gotten into the race just to stop Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. “I’ve said from the beginning, ‘Look, I like Hillary. Hillary and I get along together,” he said. “The only reason to run is because … I still think I could do a better job than anybody else could do.” He used the interview to play down suggestions his announcement not to run, made at the White House Wednesday with President Barack Obama standing at his side, included a jab at Clinton. At the White House event, Biden lamented partisan bickering in Washington politics and said, “I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our enemies.” Clinton had made a statement to that effect during the Democratic presidential debate earlier this month. “That wasn’t directed at Hillary,” Biden told “60 Minutes.” “That was a reference to Washington, all of Washington,” he said. The 72-year-old Biden also sought in the interview to dispel recurrent rumors that his late son Beau, who died earlier this year at age 46 of brain cancer, had made a last-minute plea to his father to run for president. Biden said there was no such “Hollywood moment … Nothing like that ever, ever happened,” he said. “Beau all along thought that I should run and I could win.” “But there was not what was sort of made out as kind of this Hollywood-esque thing that, at the last minute, Beau grabbed my hand and said, ‘Dad, you’ve got to run,’ like win one for the Gipper,” Biden said. The vice president did say he wants to continue to have a voice in party affairs and will speak up whenever he wishes. He has not endorsed a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. “I will make no bones about that,” he said. “I don’t want the party walking away from what Barack and I did.” Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley are still in the race. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Bookended by tragedy, Joe Biden’s storied career nears the end
Joe Biden‘s storied political career will come to an end much the way it started nearly half a century ago: shaped by crushing personal tragedy that shook his deep-seated confidence in his own ability to lead. In deciding not to run for president, Biden turned away from months of intensive preparations and countless hours that had put him on the verge of a third presidential campaign, with almost everything ready to go except the candidate himself. “Unfortunately, I believe we’re out of time — the time necessary to mount a winning campaign,” Biden said, flanked by his wife and President Barack Obama in an extraordinary appearance in the Rose Garden. Biden’s world ground to a halt in May when his son died of brain cancer. For the vice president, 46-year-old Beau Biden‘s death ended any possibility that the popular former Delaware attorney general would carry on his father’s legacy, perhaps with a presidential campaign of his own. Even months later, when Biden began anew to seriously consider running, he steadfastly refused to be rushed, and said the decision hinged on whether he and his family had the emotional mettle to campaign while still roiled by grief. In fact, Biden had predicted his denouement in September, when he said he might not be ready to make a decision before the realities of the campaign calendar would make the decision for him. “If that’s it, that’s it,” he said. Biden, who will turn 73 next month, will probably never again appear on a ballot. So his decision to forego another run for the White House sets him on a glide path toward the end of his long turn on the national political stage, which began in 1972 and will culminate when the Obama administration ends in early 2017. Although Biden hasn’t said exactly what he’ll do after leaving the White House, he has told friends he has no plans to retire in a traditional sense. He’s previously discussed starting a foundation, launching an institute at the University of Delaware or becoming a special envoy if called upon by future administrations, said several friends and aides, who requested anonymity to disclose private conversations. And under a picturesque blue sky in the Rose Garden, Biden hinted at another venture in his future: a “moonshot” to cure cancer, sparing other families the profound loss that his has endured. “I’m going to spend the next 15 months in this office pushing as hard as I can to accomplish this,” Biden said, calling his son Beau “our inspiration.” Yet in a bittersweet reminder that the job he’s always wanted is the one he’ll never attain, he added, “If I could be anything, I would have wanted to be the president that ended cancer, because it’s possible.” For Biden, the decision to bow out means his political career will have been bookended by heartbreak and adversity that robbed him of the people he loved most. The scrappy lawyer from Scranton, Pennsylvania, was 27 years old when he was elected to county council harboring much greater aspirations. Yet a month after Biden was elected to the Senate at age 29, his wife and baby daughter died when their car collided with a tractor-trailer. Biden considered relinquishing his seat, but instead was sworn in at the hospital where his sons, Beau and Hunter, were recovering. Over six terms in the Senate, he rose in the ranks to chair the Senate’s judiciary and foreign relations committees, developing broad expertise in global affairs and presiding over contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork. He was perhaps most proud of his work authoring the Violence Against Women Act, which Biden still brings up regularly. With a penchant for speaking his mind, Biden developed a reputation for a plainspoken, unpredictable approach to politics. Although it frequently got him in trouble, some Democrats suggested his freewheeling style was uniquely suited for this year’s presidential campaign. Biden ran for president twice before; neither venture was successful. His most recent attempt, in 2008, ended after he garnered less than 1 percent in the Iowa caucuses. His first run in 1987 ended even quicker, following allegations he plagiarized some speeches from a British politician. A few months later, he had a pair of surgeries for brain aneurysms, and said doctors had told him the campaign might have killed him. Through it all, the sprawling Biden clan of siblings, kids and grandkids was at the center of his orbit, and his daily trips back home to Delaware on an Amtrak train became a thing of lore in Washington, where most lawmakers live nearly full time when Congress is in session. Not Biden. “Our whole family — and this sounds corny — but we found purpose in public life,” Biden said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden says he will not run for president in 2016
Vice President Joe Biden will not run for president in 2016, he said Wednesday, ending a months-long flirtation with a third White House campaign and setting him on a glide path toward the end of his decades-long political career. Biden’s decision finalizes the Democratic field of White House candidates and likely bolsters Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s standing as the front-runner by sparing her a challenge from the popular vice president. Biden announced his decision in the Rose Garden, flanked by President Barack Obama. Encouraged by Democrats seeking an alternative to Clinton, Biden had spent the past several months deeply engaged in discussions with his family and political advisers about entering the primary. Yet as the deliberations dragged on, Democrats began publicly questioning whether it was too late for him to run, a notion that hardened after Clinton’s strong performance in last week’s Democratic debate. In the end, Biden decided the timing was too late. He also was still grieving over the death of his son, former Delaware Attorney Beau Biden, who died of brain cancer in May. Wednesday’s announcement was a letdown for Biden supporters who had pleaded with him to run, and in increasingly loud tones as his deliberations dragged on through the summer and into the fall. For months, the 72-year-old Democrat made front pages and appeared on cable news screens as pundits mused about his prospects and Clinton’s perceived vulnerability. A super political action committee, Draft Biden, formed with the explicit goal of getting him into the race. At the White House, aides and longtime Biden loyalists had prepared for his potential bid, putting together a campaign-in-waiting ready to move fast should he decide to jump into the race. Last week one of those aides, former Sen. Ted Kaufman, wrote an email to former Biden staffers laying out the potential rationale for a Biden run and promising a decision soon. Biden and his team had lined up potential staff and enlisted donors willing to help; Biden spoke personally to many supporters. As speculation about his plans reached a fever pitch, Biden kept up an intense schedule of public appearances, seemingly testing his own stamina for an exhausting presidential campaign. But as speculation swirled, Biden broadcast his reluctance to run amid doubts that he and his family were emotionally ready in the wake of Beau Biden’s death. In a September appearance on “The Late Show,” Biden told comedian Stephen Colbert he was still experiencing moments of uncontrollable grief that he deemed unacceptable for a presidential aspirant. “Sometimes it just overwhelms you,” he said, foreshadowing his ultimate decision. Biden would have faced substantial logistically challenges in deciding to mount a campaign this late in the primary process. Both Clinton and Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders have been in the race since April, giving them a powerful head start in fundraising, volunteers, endorsements and voter outreach. Democratic operatives and donors already committed to Clinton would likely have had to defect to Biden in order for him to have viable shot at the nomination. Having decided against a final presidential campaign, Biden now approaches the end of his long career in politics. A month after being elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, Biden’s wife and baby daughter died when their car collided with a tractor-trailer. Biden considered relinquishing his seat, but instead was sworn in at the hospital where his sons, Beau and Hunter, were recovering. Over six terms in the Senate, he rose in the ranks to become chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, developing broad expertise in global affairs and reputation for a plainspoken, unpredictable approach to politics. Biden twice ran for president. His most recent attempt in 2008 ended after he garnered less than 1 percent in the Iowa caucuses. His first run in 1987 ended even quicker, following allegations he plagiarized in some speeches from a British politician. He has not yet detailed his post-White House plans, but has told friends he has no plans to “retire” in a traditional sense. Although unlikely to again seek elected office, friends and aides say Biden has previously discussed starting a foundation, launching an institute at the University of Delaware or taking on a role as a special envoy and elder statesman if called upon by future presidents. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Top Joe Biden aide lays out potential 2016 platform
Vice President Joe Biden would run an optimistic and unscripted “campaign from the heart” based on restoring middle-class opportunity, one of his top political advisers said Thursday, laying out for the first time the argument Biden would make if he runs for president. Former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman, one of Biden’s closest political advisers, said Biden would soon make a decision about whether to enter the race. In an email obtained by The Associated Press, Kaufman asked former staffers to stay in close contact and said Biden would need their help immediately if he enters the race. “If he runs, he will run because of his burning conviction that we need to fundamentally change the balance in our economy and the political structure to restore the ability of the middle class to get ahead,” Kaufman said. Calls within the Democratic Party for Biden to run have been growing for months, fueled largely by concerns that front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s campaign was faltering under the weight of an email scandal and declining popularity. But Clinton’s commanding performance Tuesday in the first Democratic debate, coupled with Biden’s seemingly endless delays in making a decision, have put a damper on the speculation in recent days, with top Democratic leaders questioning whether it’s too late for Biden. Kaufman’s letter to former Biden aides marked an attempt by the vice president to signal he’s still very much considering running and shouldn’t be written off. It also served to reinforce the notion that Clinton isn’t the only Democrat who could run in part on a promise to lock in policies that Obama has advanced during his two terms. “He believes we must win this election,” Kaufman said. “Everything he and the president have worked for — and care about — is at stake.” Clinton and her top rival in the race, Sen. Bernie Sanders, have been campaigning for months and have raised tens of millions of dollars, giving them a huge head start that would make it tough for Biden to mount a viable challenge. The first filing deadlines in some states are just weeks away and Biden currently has no operation in key states. Alluding to those concerns, Kaufman said Biden was “aware of the practical demands of making a final decision soon.” “If he decides to run, we will need each and every one of you — yesterday!” Kaufman wrote in the letter, distributed to Democratic operatives who worked for Biden in the Senate, in the White House or on his previous presidential campaigns. Kaufman, a longtime Biden confidant, served as his chief of staff in the Senate and was appointed to replace him when Biden became vice president. In the weeks after the vice president’s son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in May, Biden brought Kaufman back into the fold and gave him an office on the White House campus. He’s one of three top advisers who have spent the last two months cloistered with Biden as he decides about 2016; Biden chief of staff Steve Ricchetti and political adviser Mike Donilon round out the trio. The group met with Biden to discuss the 2016 race on Wednesday evening at Biden’s official residence, said a person familiar with the meeting, who wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters and requested anonymity. Yet Kaufman and other top Biden staffers have put together a campaign-in-waiting that could be activated quickly if he decides to take the plunge, with lists of potential staffers who have agreed to work for a campaign and donors committed to helping fund it. Those discussions have all taken place in private, and Biden’s office has declined to comment on the status of his deliberations. Kaufman’s letter to former staffers opened a new, more public phase of the deliberations, as Biden seeks to keep himself in the discussion despite the fact that many Democrats have moved on or grown frustrated with his indecision. Even Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, told reporters this week that it was time Biden make a decision. Biden’s top consideration is the welfare and support of his family, Kaufman said. The vice president has said previously he’s unsure he has the emotional fortitude to run following his son’s death. “He is determined to take, and to give his family, as much time as possible to work this through,” Kaufman said. Clinton’s resurgence following Tuesday’s debate has prompted questions about what rationale Biden could offer for challenging her and how he would differentiate himself from the former secretary of state he served alongside in Obama‘s Cabinet. But Kaufman said he’d spoken extensively with Biden about his deliberations and that if he runs, Biden would mount an “optimistic campaign.” “A campaign from the heart. A campaign consistent with his values, our values, and the values of the American people,” Kaufman said. “And I think it’s fair to say, knowing him as we all do, that it won’t be a scripted affair — after all, it’s Joe.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Pro-Joe Biden super PAC pulls TV ad about VP’s family tragedy
The super PAC urging Vice President Joe Biden to run for president pulled its first television ad off the air on Friday after Biden signaled he preferred that it not run. One day after releasing the ad recalling Biden’s family tragedies and vowing to spend six figures to air it on national television, Draft Biden abruptly reversed course. Josh Alcorn, a senior adviser to the super PAC and a Biden family friend, said nobody respects Biden and his family more than Draft Biden. “Obviously we will honor his wishes,” Alcorn said in a statement. The super PAC’s inaugural ad featured audio from a speech Biden gave at Yale University in May, just a few weeks before his eldest son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer. In the ad, Biden recalls the car crash that killed his wife and daughter just after he was first elected senator in 1972, and says he found redemption by focusing on his sons. The ad ends with white lettering that reads: “Joe, run.” The ad drew criticism from Democrats and some Biden supporters for appearing to exploit his personal losses for political gain. Draft Biden announced plans to pull the ad almost immediately after word emerged in a Los Angeles Times report that Biden had seen the ad and hoped it wouldn’t run. Two people close to Biden confirmed to The Associated Press that Biden and his staff felt the ad was inappropriate and in poor taste. In public comments since his son’s death, Biden has emphasized that his losses are no worse than those experienced by many Americans, and that he deserves no special sympathy. Although Draft Biden is an independent group and legally barred from coordinating with a campaign, it has attracted a number of supporters with close and longstanding ties to Biden and President Barack Obama. Alcorn, who joined the group over the summer and is steering its activities, was previously the political director for Beau Biden, who served as Delaware’s attorney general. The ad was created by Democratic ad-maker Mark Putnam, who worked on Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. Biden has said he’s considering entering the presidential race, but has yet to make a decision — to the dismay of ardent supporters calling for him to run. Earlier this week, Biden’s office pushed back aggressively against suggestions that Biden leaked word to a newspaper columnist of his son’s dying wish for him to run in an attempt to galvanize political support. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
