Why are Joe Biden’s children so controversial? Hunter and Ashley, the US president’s son and daughter, have been caught up in tax, drugs and partying scandals over the years

“Ashley Biden has an estimated net worth of nearly US$2 million, and she can’t even find the time to pay US$5,000 of her Pennsylvania taxes. So therefore, the Commonwealth has a lien on her property, meaning PA is a priority creditor and must be paid before Ashley can make any substantial financial transaction,” Republican Congressman Dan Meuser told The Post.

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Ashley Biden, 42, is the youngest child of Jill and Joe Biden, and has previously made tabloid headlines for stories about her partying days and the fact that one of her diaries was stolen and sold to a right-wing group in a bid to embarrass her.

Who are Ashley and Hunter Biden?

Ashley, 42, and Hunter Biden, 53, are the two surviving children in Joe Biden’s life.

Hunter has four children, Naomi Biden, Navy Joan Roberts, Finnegan Biden, and Maisy Biden, and is currently married to South African activist Melissa Cohen.

Ashley, the only child of Joe and Jill Biden, has been married to 57-year-old plastic surgeon Howard Krein since 2012.

1. Ashley Biden’s drug scandal

Back in 2009, Ashley found herself embroiled in controversy after a man tried to hawk a video which allegedly showed her snorting cocaine at a house party. The 43-minute tape allegedly showed Ashley snorting lines of white powder, according to the New York Post and Radar online.

A decade before that, Ashley was arrested for marijuana possession, according to The Telegraph, but charges were later dropped.

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2. Ashley Biden’s stolen diary

In the midst of Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign against Donald Trump, snippets from Ashley Biden’s diary were leaked to a conservative media outlet, according to The Independent.

3. Hunter Biden’s drug problems

Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Biden, who died in a car crash in 1972, has made headlines on multiple occasions. Sadly, it’s often been for the wrong reasons. Per the BBC, Hunter started drinking when he was a teen and would start abusing cocaine at university. He has done several stints in rehab.

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4. Hunter Biden’s laptop

Joe Biden’s son has mainly been in the news for the trove of data that was retrieved from a laptop hard-drive he left in a Delaware repair shop. According to Canada’s CBC, its contents are either considered a “distraction, or the key to unlocking cases of political corruption and Hunter Biden’s suspicious dealings overseas”, depending who you ask.

Either way, the scandal caused no end of headaches for President Biden, who has come under fire for his son’s extensive earnings from work in China and Ukraine, per the BBC.

5. Hunter Biden’s tax-related charges

According to ABC News, it was recently announced that Hunter is set to be arraigned on nine federal tax charges on January 11. The same source states that he has also been accused of failing to pay US$1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2020.

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What happened to Joe Biden’s other two children?

Tragically, Joe Biden previously lost two of his children.

His son Beau Biden, whom he shared with his late wife Neilia Hunter Biden, died in 2015 aged 46 after battling brain cancer. The current US president also lost his eldest daughter, Naomi Christina Biden, when she was killed at just 13-months-old in a tragic car accident alongside her mother Neilia in the days leading up to Christmas in 1972. Both Beau and Hunter were also in the car at the time and survived, until Beau’s death in 2015.