Best of Frenemies: The strange relationship between Hunter Biden and Tucker Carlson
Fox News host Tucker Carlson and President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden couldn't be more different. They represent the opposing sides of America's political divide, and ever so often, are the subject of attacks on each other. But, behind the scenes, it appears the two share a very different relationship. New emails unearthed from the infamous Biden laptop appear to indicate Biden and Carlson shared a very strong bromance, with Biden even going as far as to call the anchor "buddy" and "friend."
The revelation is just one of the many to come from the problematic laptop, which has caused a lot of challenges for Joe Biden both on the campaign trail and as president. From connections to China to racy photos and videos, the laptop has been dubbed the "laptop from hell" for all it reveals about Biden's personal, and professional life. It's also led to allegations of corruption, with multiple current and former government officials from around the world, such as ex FBI chief Louis Freeh being tied to the Biden family.
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In December 2021, we also learned that the Carlson family is closely associated with the Bidens. Emails and texts from the laptop show that Carlson and the President's son appear to enjoy a very close relationship, with personal favors being done to cement that closeness.
The strange relationship between Hunter and Carlson
In July 2020, Carlson attacked the Democrats and Joe Biden over the laptop in a segment on Fox News. "No Russian did that, those pictures were real," Carlson proclaimed. The host went on to allege Biden was "selling access to his father" and trying to "enrich his family", as Carlson typically does. You can see the video of that segment below, as uploaded to Facebook by Fox News.
But behind the scenes, it appears things were very different, at least until 2015. In August 2015, after the Ashley Madison leak, Carlson wrote to Biden, "his whole thing is disgusting and awful and it breaks my heart that you all have to go through it. I'm really sorry. Let me know if there's anything Susie and I can do to help." To that, Biden replied, "I should have never put you in this position- you have your own family all of whom I love, and your own business, and defending me is not something a friend should ask a friend to do." That was written after Carlson intervened in The Daily Mail's reporting of the story, allegedly to keep Biden's name out of it.
Earlier in August 2012, Biden replied "yes - his wife Suzie and Kathleen are good friends. He's a nice guy- that I completely disagree with on everything," when asked by an acquaintance at Wells Fargo bank if he and Carlson were friends. In November 2011, Carlson and his wife Susan were listed as "friends" by Kathleen Biden on a guest list for a cocktail party.
In 2014, Biden also wrote a recommendation letter for Carlson's son Buckley's application to his alma mater - Georgetown University. "Hunter! I can't thank you enough for writing that letter to Georgetown on Buckley's behalf. So nice of you," Carlson emailed on November 12, 2014. In 2019, Buckley graduated from the university with a degree in government and political science.
What happened after?
The emails and messages show that the two were extremely close friends. It appears they frequently went out together with their families, including an outward bound group called The Elements DC. But something changed after 2015. The Daily Mail, which broke the story reported, "the Fox anchor and the president's son were close until around 2015." No emails have been shared after that year, indicating the two likely stopped being in touch.
It's unusual because nothing of note appears to have happened in 2015, apart from Trump beginning his race for the presidency. Since then, Carlson did occasionally attack Biden, with the bulk of the attacks coming ahead of the 2020 Presidential election, before they strangely stopped. At the time, Carlson said Biden wasn't the one running for office, and also acknowledged he knew him "fairly well".
Carlson never went into detail about how well he knew Biden, but these emails show they were clearly very close. With both Biden and Carlson refusing to comment on the story, we can only assume a wedge in the name of Donald Trump appeared, dividing them. Or maybe it was something else. There's no definitive answer, but we can be sure something happened in 2015.