Former first lady Michelle Obama is distancing herself from Biden over his family’s treatment of Kathleen Buhl, a close friend and the ex-wife of Hunter Biden, Axios is reporting exclusively.
“Family tensions and the former first lady’s aversion to partisan politics are part of the reason why one of the Democratic Party’s most popular lawmakers is not campaigning for President Biden’s reelection,” two sources told the outlet.
Michelle Obama was also reportedly initially reluctant to support Joe Biden’s campaign when he became the presidential candidate in 2020.
But Michelle Obama isn’t the only one reportedly feeling uneasy about the Biden family.
After a fundraiser for the children’s advocacy group Beau Biden Foundation in the fall of 2017, former President Obama privately described the Biden family’s behavior at the event as “bizarre,” according to a person with knowledge of Obama’s comments.
At the time, Hunter Biden had recently divorced Buhle and was dating Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden.
Michelle Obama, who did not attend the fundraiser, said at the time that she felt the Biden family had wronged Buhl after addressing Hunter Biden’s drug use and infidelity issues, blaming him for making details of his “lewd” behavior public.
FILE/Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware greets President Obama’s daughters Malia and Sasha during the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado, on August 28, 2008. (Charles Ommanney/Getty Images)
But reports suggest tensions between the Obamas and Bidens existed before Hunter Biden and Buhle’s divorce.
The relationship between the two “changed in 2015,” when President Obama discouraged then-Vice President Joe Biden from running for president in 2016.
Obama aides have long privately maintained that the former president dissuaded Biden from running because he was grieving the death of his son Beau, but Biden felt his boss dissuaded him because he supported Hillary Clinton.
But even before then, Hunter Biden had “grown with resentment toward the Obama administration” after Obama’s team forced him to resign from his job as a lobbyist over appearance concerns, Axios reported.
In her memoir, Hunter wrote that when she left the job, she felt like she was on an escalator with no way out: “Once again, with huge expenses, no savings, and having to work hard to build a new career from scratch.”
Hunter also wrote that some members of President Obama’s staff had belittled and mocked his father.
Kathleen Buhl attends a luncheon with the president and his family in Philadelphia, Monday, May 15, 2023, after President Joe Biden attended the University of Pennsylvania graduation of her granddaughter, Maisie Biden, who is Buhl’s daughter. (Photo by The Associated Press/Patrick Semansky)
“I didn’t hang out much at the White House because I didn’t want to be in the position of going to a barbecue with the president and White House staff on a Sunday after reading that someone had betrayed my father,” Hunter wrote, according to Axios. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to contain my anger and keep quiet.”
Despite the tensions, there have been “talks” between the two sides about the popular former first lady campaigning for Biden this year.
According to reports, White House top adviser Anita Dunn and Michelle Obama’s top adviser Melissa Winter recently met for lunch to discuss “specific ways to involve former First Lady Michelle Obama in Biden’s campaign.”
For now, the two sides have appeared to be on friendly terms, with a spokesperson for Michelle Obama saying she supports Biden’s reelection and is “friends with Katherine and Mr. Biden.” “Two things could be true,” spokeswoman Crystal Carson told Axios.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied any tension and said the two sides were “like family”.
“The Biden and Obama families are like family to each other and anyone making this claim about their relationship doesn’t know that,” he said.
Buhle did not respond to Axios’ request for comment.
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