The U.S. political class judges candidates too harshly for past bad behavior, discouraging people from running for office, Hunter Biden said in a forthcoming episode of Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s podcast, \u201cThis Is Gavin Newsom.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a four-minute clip obtained by The Sacramento Bee, Biden referred to reports that one of Maine\u2019s U.S. Senate nominees Graham Platner had sexted with other women in the early days of his marriage. Platner overwhelmingly won his state\u2019s Democratic primary on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that his relationship with his wife is his relationship with his wife. The entirety of that controversy, it\u2019s all about leaked consensual stuff,\u201d said Biden, the wayward young son of former President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Hunter Biden has reemerged in recent weeks online, posting on X and giving interviews<\/a> about his life in recovery for his substance use disorder and ensuing legal troubles created political headaches for his father.<\/p>\n Joe Biden pardoned his son, who was facing federal prison time for tax evasion and illegal gun charges, in the waning days of his presidency. Newsom called the move \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI always say to people, show me your phone. Give me access to your iCloud. Let\u2019s go through it and pull everything that we can that is inappropriate, that is off-color, that selfie that you took when you\u2019re drunk off your ass,\u201d Biden said to Newsom. \u201cAnd if that\u2019s the standard by which we are going to judge people, particularly people in elected office, then I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to have many people in elected office.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom had his own marital scandal, albeit pre-social media, in 2007, when the then-mayor of San Francisco admitted to having an affair<\/a> with his aide\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n The full episode of Biden\u2019s appearance on \u201cThis Is Gavin Newsom\u201d was not yet available ahead of its expected Friday morning release.<\/p>\n