Kathleen Buhle, the first wife of Hunter Biden, has revealed in her upcoming memoir that she felt excluded from the Biden family after being denied Secret Service protection while her father-in-law was vice-president. The memoir, titled If We Break: A Memoir of Marriage, Addiction, and Healing, is set to be published next week.
Buhle describes a warm relationship with Joe Biden, who reportedly greeted her by putting his hands on her cheeks and saying, 'Honey, my boy tells me he loves you, so that means I love you too.' She says Biden introduced her as his daughter and that the family saw him as 'the sun around which we all revolved.'
However, Buhle recounts a meeting with a Secret Service agent shortly before Joe Biden became vice-president in 2009. The agent explained that Hunter and their daughters would have 24-hour protection, but Buhle would only be included in an emergency. This, she writes, 'triggered an old memory' of a family photo session where she was asked to step aside for 'Biden blood only.'
Buhle says she asked Hunter to decline Secret Service coverage, but he refused, stating that in-laws had never had protection. She eventually accepted the decision but says it remained a 'sore point,' reinforcing her feeling of not being truly part of the family.
The memoir also details the disintegration of her marriage amid Hunter Biden's struggles with addiction. Buhle describes an incident five years into Joe Biden's vice-presidency when Secret Service agents lost track of Hunter, who had gone to Mexico for treatment. He subsequently asked to be released from protection.
