First lady Jill Biden has traveled to great lengths to show support for her son Hunter as his federal gun trial is underway this week.
The first lady was on hand at the Wilmington, Delaware, courthouse for the first three days of the felony trial this week, sitting through testimony recounting moments from one of the most troubled periods of her son’s life. After departing court on Wednesday, she took a red-eye flight to France to attend the commemoration ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Less than 24 hours later, she boarded a military aircraft at Paris-Orly airport to make the journey home to Wilmington, where she’s expected to attend court once again on Friday. Dr. Biden is set to travel back to Paris this weekend as she and her husband, President Joe Biden, will be feted with an official state visit.
The back-and-forth travel and hours spent in the Delaware courtroom relistening to the details of a tumultuous saga in her family’s history mark the latest example of how the first lady and president continue to keep their only living son close even as his legal entanglements play out against the backdrop of the presidential campaign.
“I am the President, but I am also a Dad. Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” the president said in a statement Monday as the trial began. “Our family has been through a lot together, and Jill and I are going to continue to be there for Hunter and our family with our love and support.”
The Bidens wanted to be close as the court proceedings began with the president spending most of Monday just a few miles away at his Wilmington home. For the first lady, there was no question she would be on hand at the courthouse to support her son throughout the trial – even as official duties called back in Washington, DC, and abroad.
“She’s his mother, and he’s on trial, so of course she wants to be there as much as humanly possible,” said Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for the first lady.
“It’s something that a lot of parents, and maybe mothers especially feel, that when your children need you, it doesn’t matter how old they get, they’re always your children and you always want to be there to support them,” she added.
The first day of the trial coincided with the first lady’s 73rd birthday. On Tuesday, she hosted lawmakers for the annual White House congressional picnic after sitting in the court room earlier that day. That same evening, she traveled back to Delaware to be in court on Wednesday morning and is expected to be a continual presence as the trial proceeds.
“The back and forth, the push and pull, of family responsibilities, of first lady duties, of her career, of the campaign – that’s just who she is,” said Alexander.
The White House has not announced the first lady’s appearances in Delaware ahead of time. She could be in court when other family members are called to testify in the coming days. Hunter Biden’s defense team plans to call Naomi Biden, his daughter, and James Biden, his uncle and the president’s brother, to testify as they begin to present their case Friday, according to people briefed on their plans.
She’s listened as prosecutors have laid out their case related to three felony charges stemming from a gun purchase her son made in 2018, and questioned witnesses. Dr. Biden was in France and not on hand when Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden who later had a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden, took the witness stand.
The first lady has sat stoically as her son’s voice boomed through the courtroom when prosecutors played long audio excerpts of him detailing his addiction in his memoir, details she’s likely heard before.
During breaks from the court’s proceedings, she’s spent time with Hunter, the defense team and other Biden family members in a small room a few paces from the courtroom, with a phalanx of Secret Service agents guarding the door. The first lady huddled with her son’s attorney Abbe Lowell for several minutes during one of the breaks in the courtroom on Tuesday.
The first lady stepped into the role of matriarch after marrying then-Senator Biden in 1977, five years after his first wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident that also injured Beau and Hunter.
“Jill came along at a really important point and put my family back together,” the president said in an interview in 2021. “She’s the glue that held it together.”
The Biden family was once again tested in 2015 when Beau Biden, whom many believed would one day run for the White House, died of brain cancer. The years that followed were tumultuous for the Biden family as Hunter Biden sank into the dark depths of addiction. In his memoir “Beautiful Things,” he detailed how his mom and father tried to stage an intervention at their Wilmington home, a moment that descended into screaming and tears from the family.
The first lady is known to be fiercely protective of her family, and she defended Hunter as he faced a federal criminal investigation in 2022.
“Everybody and their brother has investigated Hunter. They keep at it, and at it, and at it. I know that Hunter is innocent. I love my son, and I will keep looking forward,” the first lady told NBC News.
The first lady has slammed House Republicans investigating her son, saying that “what they are doing to Hunter is cruel.”
“I’m really proud of how Hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction,” the first lady said in an interview earlier this year. “I love my son and it’s hurt, it’s hurt my grandchildren, and that’s what I’m so concerned about – that it’s affecting their lives as well.”
In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, the president said he would accept the jury’s verdict in Hunter’s case and ruled out the possibility of pardoning his son. As they wait for that decision to come, the first lady will be close by to lend her support at home and in court.
