New Zealand Listener

The prodigal son

s the second son of the US President, Hunter Biden has never been far from the headlines. Born into privilege and inseparable from his brother, Beau, he had an idyllic childhood (notwithstanding the car wreck that claimed their mother and baby sister), often roaming the Senate’s corridors when their father went to Washington. They had it all, but when Beau died of brain cancer, Hunter lost his moorings and entered a life consumed with controversy and addiction. The drink. The drugs. The US$80,000-a-month fee from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The romantic tryst with Beau’s widow. The lurid contents found on his

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