'What about Hunter?' Why Biden's son is a GOP target again

The difference between six and seven is slight but, in the mouth of Joe Biden, it meant everything. "I have seven grandkids," the US president said in a recent podcast interview.

- David Smith

That was Biden's way of acknowledging his four-year-old granddaughter, Navy Joan Roberts. His son Hunter has said he fathered Navy during a period when he was struggling with alcohol and drug addiction and does not have a relationship with her. The episode illustrated the political sensitivities around Hunter - and Biden's efforts to navigate them ahead of another bruising re-election campaign. It came in a week when Hunter was again at the centre of a legal storm that made him a target for Republicans.

The scrutiny is testing whether the family of a politician is fair game. Hunter has never served in the White House, but he is often seen at his father's side. What is beyond dispute is that Hunter, 53, has fought personal demons. He appeared in a Delaware court last month on two tax charges and a gun charge.

Republicans have been attempting to prove - so far without success - that there is a link between father and son that implicates the former in wrongdoing. Among their allegations is that, when Biden was vice-president, he played a role in his son's business dealings and profited from transactions. The White House says Biden was never in business with his son.