BY JAY STRUBBERG
U.S. officials announced Thursday Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was removed from the United States Navy earlier this year for failing drug test.
The Wall Street Journal first broke the story and says the Navy Reserve discharged Biden, a 44-year-old attorney who works for an investment firm, after he tested positive for cocaine while on a part-time assignment last May. He was reportedly discharged in February.
Biden expressed remorse in a statement recorded in the Journal. “It was the honor of my life to serve in the U.S. Navy, and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge. I respect the Navy’s decision.”
A senior U.S. official told NBC Hunter’s release was not brought to public light immediately following the incident in February “because he was treated like any other sailor who fails a drug test and is thrown out of the Navy.”
The Journal says because Biden joined the Navy later in life — at age 43 — he worked on a commission basis and had to get a waiver to join. Colleen Nelson, the paper’s White House correspondent who co-wrote the story, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow this also wasn’t Biden’s first drug offense, though details on the initial incident are scarce.
WALL STREET JOURNAL WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT COLLEEN MCCAIN NELSON: “There was a drug offense that could have precluded him from joining the Navy and so he sought and received a wavier for that drug offense. The military says it’s not that uncommon for such waivers to be granted.”
The Washington Post points out the news comes after Biden made considerable advances in his career.
Earlier this year it was announced he would become a board member for Ukraine’s largest independent gas producer.
Hunter is the youngest of Vice President Joe Biden’s two sons. Both have served in the armed forces. To read the full story head to The Wall Street Journal.
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