The President of the United States of America Joe Biden is visiting Ireland and Northern Ireland today (Wednesday, April 12) to mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Joe is of Irish descent and will become the eighth sitting American president to visit the country.
Among the many diplomats and aides who accompany him, his second son Hunter will be there as well.
But who is Hunter Biden and why has he gained some notoriety in the US political sphere?
Who is Hunter Biden?
Hunter Biden is the second son of Joe Biden and his first wife Neilia Hunter Biden and was born on February 4, 1970.
When he was just two years old his mother and younger sister Naomi died in a car crash in which Hunter was travelling in.
Hunter and his older brother Beau were seriously injured but survived the crash.
After studying at law school and graduating in 1996 he accepted a consultant position at the bank holding company MBNA, whose employees donated more than $200,000 into Joe Biden's senate campaigns.
By 1998 he had risen to the position of executive vice president but left the same year.
After that he then served at the United States Department of Commerce, focusing on e-commerce policy for President Bill Clinton's administration.
His career following this went more towards investing and lobbying
Hunter Biden controversies
In December 2020, Hunter publicly announced via his attorney that his tax affairs are under federal criminal investigation.
The New York Times and CNN, citing sources familiar with the investigation, described the investigation as having started in late 2018 and being related to potential violations of tax and money laundering laws and his business dealings in foreign countries, mainly China.
As of the time of writing, charges have not yet been filed against him.
What Hunter Biden might be most well-known for is a controversy concerning a laptop which emerged in October 2020.
A laptop which had allegedly belonged to Hunter was found abandoned at a Delaware computer shop in 2019.
Three weeks before the 2020 United States presidential election, which Joe Biden was contesting against Donald Trump the New York Post published a front-page story that presented emails from the laptop, alleging they showed corruption by Joe.
Trump attempted to use this to discredit Joe's campaign saying he had acted corruptly regarding Ukraine while in office.
As of the time of writing nothing has been proved concerning potential corruption.
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