Jill Biden Says She's 'Concerned' About Hunter Biden's Children

First Lady Jill Biden has spoken about her son Hunter Biden and expressed concerns about the effect his legal battles may have on his children.

The president's son has been the target of an investigation by Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committee over his alleged financial dealings. Congressional conservatives purport that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden benefited from overseas transactions involving individuals from countries including Ukraine, China, Russia, Romania and Kazakhstan. In December, Hunter Biden called the allegations against him "baseless."

Members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee met to find the president's son in contempt of Congress on Wednesday, after he refused a closed-door meeting with the body, as they had requested.

If the charge is approved by the House in a vote, it would give authority to the Department of Justice to prosecute Hunter Biden.

Jill Biden sat down with Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC for an exclusive interview, in which she discussed the effect the probe is having on her family.

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Jill Biden and Hunter Biden for comment Thursday.

"How have you been coping personally with the onslaught of accusations against your husband and your family? Including, and especially, Hunter, who's the focus of a House Oversight Committee hearing," the news anchor asked. "Holding him in contempt, obsessing over him, showing pictures of him during vulnerable moments in his battle with addiction on the floor of the house—this would crush any family."

In the interview, which was broadcast Thursday for the first time at 6 a.m. ET, Jill Biden said: "Mika, I think what they are doing to Hunter is cruel. I'm really proud of how Hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction. I love my son and it's hurt my grandchildren. That's what I'm so concerned about, that it's affecting their lives as well."

Hunter Biden has five children: Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Navy and Beau Jr. He shares three daughters with his first wife Kathleen Buhle, a son with his current wife Melissa Cohen, and he has a fourth daughter from a relationship with Lunden Roberts.

The president's son previously acknowledged a decades-long addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine and has previously been in and out of rehab.

Per The New Yorker, Hunter Biden drank excessively after his older brother, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in 2015.

In 2018, two months after finishing time in rehab, Hunter Biden impulsively bought a handgun. He lied on the firearm application form, claiming he wasn't using drugs at the time. As a result, he is currently facing criminal charges.

In addition to the charge related to possessing a gun while abusing drugs, Hunter Biden faces two felony counts of lying about his addiction in a statement to a firearms dealer and on a federal form when he bought the gun in October 2018. Each of the two offenses carries a maximum 10-year sentence.