Hunter Biden once compared his own legal and public struggles to the grief endured by the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, according to a new book detailing his years of controversy and influence.
The revelation is included in Devils’ Advocates: The Hidden Story of Rudy Giuliani, Hunter Biden, and the Washington Insiders on the Payrolls of Corrupt Foreign Interests by journalist Ken Vogel.
The Daily Mail [1] obtained an advance copy of the book, which includes one of the most striking details yet about Hunter’s state of mind amid growing legal pressure.
Vogel writes that the comparison surfaced shortly after Hunter’s defiant December 2023 press conference on the Capitol steps.
“The comparison was meant to highlight the right-wing conspiracies that swirled around him and the families, who have been harassed for years by conspiracists claiming that the shooting was staged to create a pretext for gun restrictions,” Vogel wrote.
A source who overheard the remark told Vogel that the statement reflected Hunter’s frustration over his ongoing legal battles, which included unpaid taxes from foreign clients in Ukraine, Romania, and China, as well as a federal gun charge related to his drug use.
“Hunter endured some tough times, to be sure, but the comparison seemed to demonstrate an extreme lack of self-awareness and empathy,” Vogel wrote.
The book also explores Hunter Biden’s long pattern of influence-related work and the Biden family’s tolerance for it. When then-Senator Joe Biden was under consideration for Barack Obama’s 2008 running mate, campaign advisers insisted Hunter end his lobbying activities. Joe Biden agreed.
“Hunter told people he resented being told to drop his clients,” Vogel wrote. “And Joe Biden didn’t much care for what he interpreted as the holier-than-thou posture of the Obama folks.”
Vogel added, “In the Biden family, there was nothing inherently wrong with trying to make a buck in the government-industrial complex.”
Hunter later accepted a board position with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company owned by oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, in 2014. Despite having no energy-sector experience, Hunter earned $1 million per year.
Vogel reported that Hunter defended his position in emails, writing that it was “very frustrating” to have to respond to questions “simply because some reporter wants to somehow draw a link between my father and the president and my role at Burisma.”
Vogel noted that Hunter’s involvement with Burisma and later with Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy demonstrated “many of the earmarks of a Chinese government influence operation.”
The book further describes Hunter’s attempts to broker a real estate deal involving Romanian oligarch Gabriel Popoviciu, who had been convicted on corruption charges.
The proposal included a Chinese-backed purchase of property near the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, where Beau Biden had once spoken about fighting corruption. The project ultimately failed.
Vogel also detailed how Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign tried to discredit his reporting. Campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield told editors that his coverage promoted “Russian propaganda.”
However, Vogel found inconsistencies, noting that while the campaign denied Joe Biden ever discussed Burisma with his son, Hunter himself admitted he had.
The book concludes with President Joe Biden’s December 1 pardon of Hunter Biden. The pardon covered any crimes “he may have committed or taken part in” dating back to January 1, 2014 — the same year Hunter joined Burisma’s board.