Joe Biden’s son discharged from US military after failed drug test

Hunter Biden, the younger son of US vice president Joe Biden, was thrown out of the military in February after testing positive for cocaine, according to a story first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Mr Biden (44), a lawyer and now managing partner of an investment firm, was discharged from the Navy Reserve less than a year after being selected for a part-time position as a public affairs officer. Neither the Navy or Mr Biden gave a reason for his discharge but the business newspaper reported, quoting unnamed people “familiar with the matter,” that it was due to a failed drug test last year.

“It was the honour of my life to serve in the US Navy and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge,” he said in a statement released by his lawyer. “I respect the Navy’s decision. With the love and support of my family, I’m moving forward.”

Mr Biden pursued a military career relatively late in life and because he was 43 when he was to be commissioned he needed a waiver to join the Navy. He required a second waiver for the position because of drug-related incident when he was a young man.

He was assigned to the public affairs office at the large Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia in May 2013 and was discharged 10 months later.

The Navy declined to release details of Mr Biden’s discharge, citing the Privacy Act. The vice president’s office has made no comment on the issue.

Joe Biden and his wife Jill, Hunter’s stepmother, come from a prominent military family with a long history of service. They are well known for their support of military families and veterans at events.

Hunter Biden, a father of three, is the younger of Mr Biden’s two sons. His brother Beau is Delaware’s attorney general and said earlier this year that he plans to run for governor of the state in 2016.

The vice president has spoken proudly in public of his children, praising Hunter’s work as chairman of the World Food Programme USA and noting his son’s commission in the Navy in a speech in 2012.

The latest incident is not the first time Hunter has been embroiled in controversy this year. The Yale-educated lawyer caused surprise when he accepted a position on the board of Ukraine's largest private gas company as head of legal affairs at a time of heightened tensions between the US and Russia over the unrest in former Soviet country.

The White House defended the appointment, describing Mr Biden as a "private citizen and lawyer," and saying that the vice president "does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement in any company." The optics of the move, however, were criticised.