(NewsNation) — Hunter Biden’s business deals, past struggles with addiction and current legal challenges have taken center stage in recent years, sparking curiosity about his net worth.
Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s impeachment inquiry
The House authorized the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in December 2023. While Republicans say the inquiry is centered around the president himself, they have taken an interest in Hunter Biden and his overseas business dealings from which they accuse the president of personally benefitting.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters he thinks the “key thing” in the impeachment push is related to Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company whose board Hunter Biden served on.
But, Republican lawmakers were dealt a blow in their effort after former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov was arrested on charges he made up bribery allegations that have become a focus of the case.
Smirnov told the FBI about a conversation he allegedly had with Mykola Zlochevsky, who ran Burisma. Per Smirnov, Zlochevsky said he paid Hunter Biden and Joe Biden $5 million each to avoid scrutiny of his company. The Department of Justice called Smirnov’s claims “fabrications.” And according to prosecutors, Smirnov admitted that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden. They say Smirnov’s contacts with Russian officials were extensive and recent.
House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said last year that information from Smirnov is “a very crucial piece” of the investigation. More recently, he said the impeachment push is “not reliant” on it.
The GOP argues Joe Biden, when he served as vice president, conditioned a $1 billion loan guarantee to Ukraine on the firing of state prosecutor Viktor Shokin that benefited Burisma and by extension, Hunter Biden. The claim has been largely disproven, as the president’s family finances have faced intense scrutiny. The GOP-led impeachment probe has remained stalled.
Aside from congressional investigations, Hunter Biden is also facing legal challenges. The president’s son was found guilty on three charges related to lying on a form about his drug use to buy a gun in 2018 in Delaware. In Los Angeles, he is accused of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while living an “extravagant lifestyle.” Special counsel David Weiss filed both cases.
Hunter Biden is also considering legal action of his own. Lawyers for the president’s son said they plan to sue Fox News “imminently,” according to a letter obtained by NewsNation.
“For the last five years, Fox News has relentlessly attacked Hunter Biden and made him a caricature in order to boost ratings and for its financial gain,” his attorney, Mark Geragos, said in a statement. “The recent indictment of FBI informant (Alexander) Smirnov has exposed the conspiracy of disinformation that has been fueled by Fox, enabled by their paid agents and monetized by the Fox enterprise. We plan on holding them accountable.”
Fox, in a statement to NewsNation, defended what it called its “constitutionally protected coverage” of Hunter Biden.
“Mr. Biden is a public figure who has been the subject of investigations by both the Department of Justice and Congress, has been indicted by two different US Attorney’s Offices in California and Delaware, and has admitted to multiple incidents of wrongdoing,” a spokesperson said in an email. “Consistent with the First Amendment, Fox News has accurately covered these highly publicized events as well as the subsequent indictment of an FBI informant who was the source of certain claims made about Mr. Biden.”
What’s Hunter Biden’s net worth?
There is no official documentation available that can confirm Hunter Biden’s exact net worth. Unverified claims about Hunter Biden’s net worth have been shared across social media.
In May of 2023, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shared a graphic that said Hunter Biden is estimated to have a net worth of $230 million and that the president’s son makes more than $20 million each year.
“Impressive. Normally I’d ask how a crack and sex addict, who has dozens of LLCs that never have produced a product to sell or proof of services for profit, made all that money. But serving on the Oversight Committee, I now know,” Greene said in part on social media platform X.
In an op-ed last year, Hunter Biden said conservatives have used his struggles with addiction to launch a “vile and sustained disinformation campaign” against his father.
“My experience is not a unique one. At least 20 million Americans today suffer from substance abuse disorder. I don’t know a family that hasn’t been impacted in some way by addiction. What is distinct about my situation is that I’m the son of the president of the United States,” Hunter Biden wrote.
“My struggles and my mistakes have been fodder for a vile and sustained disinformation campaign against him, and an all-out annihilation of my reputation through high-pitched but fruitless congressional investigations,” he continued.
Old photos and videos Hunter Biden took while dealing with substance abuse have also been used by some GOP lawmakers pushing allegations of wrongdoing.
In Greene’s post about Hunter Biden’s net worth, the figures listed do not have a source. But according to reports, they may be from news station WFTS in Tampa Bay. The article matches Greene’s $230 million estimated net worth for Hunter Biden, but it does not give sources and includes the following disclaimer at the top of the page: “This is sponsored content. All opinions and views are of the advertiser and do not reflect the same of WFTS.”
While Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released a 36-page memo last year including some bank records for the Bidens, there was no estimate provided of Hunter Biden’s net worth or total earnings there either.
Aside from his Burisma stretch, Hunter Biden has served on a number of boards and previously worked for a law and lobbying firm, a financial services company and an investment advisory firm. He has acknowledged that his last name presented opportunities for him.
“I don’t think that there’s a lot of things that would have happened in my life if my last name wasn’t Biden,” Hunter Biden told ABC News.
What is Joe Biden’s net worth?
The president is worth an estimated $10 million, which is up from $8 million when he first took office, Forbes reports.
The outlet said Biden’s wealth has “nothing to do” with family business dealings and mostly to do with sitting on real estate. Biden has two homes in Delaware worth an estimated $7 million combined. His Rehoboth Beach summer home is worth an estimated $4.5 million alone.
The year he left the White House as vice president, he earned $11 million, partially due to speeches and books.
The Hill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.