Hunter Biden tried and failed to persuade the Democratic National Committee to pay his mounting legal fees stemming from federal criminal investigations in 2024, the New York Post reported.
The DNC ultimately declined his request, leaving Biden to rely on private benefactors and facing escalating financial and legal challenges before receiving a full pardon from his father, President Joe Biden.
In early 2024, Hunter Biden came under federal investigation for alleged gun and tax violations. As legal bills increased, he reportedly asked the DNC to assume financial responsibility for his defense.
At the time, the DNC was already covering President Biden’s legal costs in a separate case concerning the alleged mishandling of classified documents. According to authors Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf, the DNC denied Hunter’s appeal for assistance.
The authors' account is published in the forthcoming book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” An excerpt from the book ran in the Wall Street Journal ahead of its July 8 release by Penguin Press.
Denied support by the party, Hunter turned to prominent entertainment lawyer Kevin Morris, who covered more than $2 million of Biden’s outstanding tax debts by mid-2024. Those payments were tied to one of the criminal investigations.
Morris additionally paid for other financial obligations, including alimony to Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and child support to Lunden Roberts as determined by a 2023 settlement agreement.
He testified to House Republican investigators that by early 2024, Biden’s legal debt totaled around $5 million. Morris' continued involvement drew public scrutiny—and eventually criticism from inside his own family.
His daughter accused Hunter of exploiting her father’s generosity, stating that Biden had “taken advantage” of Morris while accepting continued financial support during his legal battles.
In June 2025, amid unresolved debts, Hunter's law firm sued him for over $50,000 in unpaid legal fees. This lawsuit came more than a year after his conviction and guilty plea in separate cases.
President Biden reportedly expressed deep concern to a close friend, stating, “The only thing I care about is that my son is not convicted,” according to the book. At the same time, the president considered starting a legal defense fund for his son, though no fund materialized.
Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges on June 11, 2024, for allegedly lying during a firearm purchase while addicted to drugs. Three months later, he pleaded guilty to tax felonies for evading $1.4 million in IRS payments.
To conclude the legal saga, President Biden issued a sweeping pardon covering all of Hunter’s charges and any potential federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
Though the pardon eliminated the risk of further federal prosecution, it did not address Biden’s ongoing civil and financial challenges, including his unpaid legal bills and public criticism of how those bills were managed.
With the criminal proceedings behind him but civil matters unresolved, Hunter Biden remains a figure at the center of political debate and legal controversy going into the 2025 election cycle.
