From An Obama To A Biden: Here’s The Definitive Ranking Of Loser Presidential Relatives

America’s elites, especially those who manage to ascend to the White House, usually have skeletons in the closet.

And these very same elites, though marred by legal and ethical problems of their own, often treat their neighbors lower in the pecking order as proles; inferior, socially and morally. “Garbage,” as President Joe Biden recently said. Or, at other times, law-abiding and productive citizens are collectively referred to as a “basket of deplorables.”

We’ve compiled a list of seven presidential relatives who were — and, in some cases, still are — losers and screw-ups. It’s good to remind Americans that despite all the sermonizing from our Washington, D.C., political class, they are, more often than not, as “deplorable” as we are.

7. Neil Bush 

To kick off the rankings, let’s start with the most (relatively) tame presidential relative on the list: Neil Bush. The son of President George H.W. Bush and brother to George W., Neil served for several years as a member on the board of directors of Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan, which went bust in 1988. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) later sued Neil and other directors for their “grossly negligent” management of Silverado and making bad loans that contributed to the company’s collapse. Neil and the other defendants settled with the FDIC and were forced to cough up a nearly $50 million payout to banking regulators. At the time, Silverado’s downfall was estimated to cost taxpayers around $1 billion. Outside of his Silverado business scandal, Neil had two other companies that went belly up: JNB Exploration and Apex Energy. Much like another family member on this list, Neil raked in money from a foreign company based in China. In 2002, while his brother George was in office, Neil made $2 million in company stock over five years from Grace Semiconductor, according to The Washington Post. All he had to do was attend board meetings and chop it up with other board members about “business strategies,” the outlet reported. Neil also went through a very tumultuous divorce. He told his soon-to-be ex-wife’s attorney that he had sex trysts with Asian women in hotel rooms, WaPo reported. He claimed he did not know they were prostitutes; they simply went up to his hotel room and knocked on his door.

6. Charles Kushner

President-elect Donald Trump nominated his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles, to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France on Saturday. However, Charles has a history with the law and allegedly tried to intimidate a relative. Trump pardoned Charles during his last presidency after Charles pleaded guilty in 2005 to tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions. During this investigation, Charles discovered that his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities, according to The Associated Press (AP). Prosecutors at the time said the real estate mogul sought revenge on the brother-in-law by hiring a prostitute to lure him into a New Jersey motel room. There, a hidden camera recorded the interaction, The AP reported. The video was later sent to the man’s wife, Charles’s sister, prosecutors said at the time.

5. Onyango Obama

Onyango Obama, President Barack Obama’s uncle, was charged with a DUI in Framingham, Massachusetts, in August of 2011. His BAC was nearly twice the state limit. Onyango managed to avoid pleading guilty but admitted there were sufficient facts in the case for the prosecution to convict him. A judge eventually dropped two other charges against him. However, Onyango lost his driver’s license for 45 days and was ordered to pay $1,000 in fees and fines. During his arrest, Onyango allegedly told police, “I think I will call the White House,” when authorities asked if he wanted a call to arrange bail. Originally from Kenya, Onyango was also appealing a deportation order that dated back to 1992 for failing to renew an application to stay in America. His lawyer chalked it up to a technical error, according to The AP. Despite living in the United States illegally at the time, it’s unclear why ICE released him following his DUI arrest in 2011.

4. John Payne Todd

The bad boy stepson of President James Madison, John Payne Todd was notorious in his youth for drinking, gambling and philandering. He also forced his famous stepfather to pay off his debts and even bail him out of debtor’s prison. Todd’s gambling got so bad at one point that his mother, Dolly Todd Madison, had to sell Madison’s Montpelier estate and all of its slaves to pay her son’s debts. To top it off, Todd sent a lawyer to his mother’s deathbed to rewrite her last will. Of course, he made himself her only heir.

3. Billy Carter 

President Jimmy Carter’s brother could not have been more different in personality than the former POTUS. A carefree Southern good ol’ boy and reported breakfast beer drinker, Billy Carter reveled in his notoriety. Where Jimmy was demure, Billy was brash. After Jimmy took office in D.C., Billy was cited by the Georgia Department of Revenue for selling beer at his gas station. That’s not the worst of it, though. Billy faced a federal investigation into his ties to Libya. A registered foreign agent, Billy received a $220,000 loan from the Libyan government during a brokerage arrangement with a U.S. company that was seeking oil from the country. A Senate investigation later found no evidence that Billy was attempting to influence U.S. foreign policy in Libya to his benefit. However, the committee said President Carter was negligent in distancing himself enough from his brother. Billy also had troubles with the IRS for not properly reporting income and was threatened with foreclosure in the early 80s. He even urinated on a tarmac in Atlanta in front of a press corps because he couldn’t wait to find a restroom. Jimmy once said of his brother, “I have more influence over members of the U.S. Senate than I do over Billy.”

President Jimmy Carter (right) visits with friends and his brother Billy, who sports a T-shirt reading “Redneck Power,” on a visit to his hometown of Plains, Georgia. (Photo by Owen Franken/Corbis via Getty Images)

2. Roger Clinton

Nicknamed “Headache” by Secret Service during his half-brother President Bill Clinton’s two terms, Roger Clinton had his fair share of scandals and run-ins with the law. A former coke addict, Roger served over a year in prison after he plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was later pardoned by his brother. However, within a year of the pardon and having his criminal record wiped clean, Roger was charged with drunk driving and disorderly conduct. In 2001, police in Hermosa Beach, California, arrested Roger for another drunk driving incident. The same year, a congressional investigation found that he tried to “cash in” on his White House ties with pardon requests and consulting contracts and that he received money from sketchy foreign sources. The final report from House Republicans said Roger engaged in “serious and reckless misconduct.” Roger was even accused of taking a gold Rolex to lobby Bill on presidential pardons. Yet again in 2016, Roger was arrested for a DUI in Redondo Beach. Roger’s lawyer said in 2014 that he was completely broke, according to The New York Times. Bill bought him a $857,000 home in Southern California. Roger was also a rock star and prolific actor, having performed in North Korea and starred in the cinematic masterpiece, “Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings.”

Roger Clinton, the brother of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and his date arrive at “The Lounge” March 08, 2002 in West Hollywood, CA. (Photo by David Klein/Getty Images)

1. Hunter Biden

Last but not least, the mother of all presidential losers: Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting president to be criminally convicted. His father, Joe Biden, pardoned him Sunday, wiping away a gun conviction, his tax crimes and any other federal crimes he may have committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and December 2024. Hunter was a longtime crack addict and got kicked out of the Navy Reserve in 2014 after he tested positive for cocaine use. Throughout his adult life, he spent lavish amounts of money on porn sites and alleged prostitutes, according to a federal indictment. In March 2017, Page Six reported that Hunter was having a romantic affair with Hallie Biden, his brother Beau’s widow. The prodigal son played a key role in the Biden family’s influence schemes and foreign business dealings, sitting on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings while his father, then vice president, oversaw the Obama admin’s Ukraine policy. He fathered a love child, Navy Joan, with Arkansas stripper Lunden Roberts, which prompted a years-long legal fight over child payments. In June 2023, Hunter was ordered to give Navy some of his paintings and a monthly payment. The first son and soul-stirring artist will likely spend his days as a free man in the coming years “painting his truth.” (WATCH: Lunden Roberts: Out of the Shadows)