Who’s who in the Biden clan

The electoral college has confirmed it: the US will have its 46th president on 21 January next year – Joseph R Biden Jnr.

While Scranton Joe might not have much in common with his predecessor in many departments, there are (some) similarities when it comes to their personal lives.

As grandfathers in their 70s, both men preside over large broods, who have helped build the family political brand – and who have generated their fair share of media intrigue along the way.

Here’s the guide to who’s who in the Biden clan:

(Dr) Jill Biden

An English professor with nearly two million followers on Instagram, Jill Biden is no stranger to the White House. During the Obama years, she famously balanced her public duties as Second Lady with lecturing at Northern Virginia Community College (where her security detail disguised themselves as students).

Jill Jacobs first met her future husband in 1975 when she was studying at the University of Delaware, following an introduction from his brother. Joe Biden, then a 33 year old senator, had tragically lost his wife, Neilia, and infant daughter three years beforehand in a car accident.

Having previously shied away from the spotlight, Dr Biden emerged as quite the asset in this year’s campaign. Highlights included shielding her husband from vegan protestors during his Super Tuesday speech and deftly batting off questions about his alleged touchiness.

Hunter Biden

While the Democratic party machinery did all it could to promote Jill Biden, there was one name they tried to keep out of the spotlight – Hunter Biden.

The second son from Joe Biden’s marriage to Neilia, Hunter Biden is a career lobbyist whose rocky relationship with drugs is well known.

But for all that (including the time he was dismissed from the naval reserves for cocaine usage), it was ultimately Hunter’s professional activities that sparked one of the biggest political controversies of the century.

When a White House whistleblower came forward to say that President Donald Trump had leaned on Ukraine to accuse Hunter of corruption, presumably in the hope of damaging his father’s campaign, it became a political firestorm, eventually leading to the third presidential impeachment in history.

If that wasn’t enough, Hunter’s name emerged again in the final weeks of the campaign, with the infamous laptop controversy. The New York Post claimed to have been shown emails from an old laptop belonging to Hunter, proving he had brokered introductions between foreign clients and the Vice President. The story’s accuracy was bitterly disputed.

Having beaten his addictions and left DC, Hunter Biden now lives in California, with his second wife and most recent child.

Beau Biden

While he might not have lived to see his father take the nation’s highest office, it would be remiss not to mention Beau Biden – the President-Elect’s eldest son – whose influence on the family has been profound.

Beau (or Joseph Jnr to give him his full name) was born in 1970, and went on to serve in the US military before being elected as Delaware’s Attorney General, the first step in what pundits assumed would be a long political career.

Then, three years after suffering what doctors believed to be a minor stroke, Biden was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2013. Despite the cancer originally going into remission, he eventually died in 2015.

Joe Biden has spoken several times about his son’s death, including a tearful interview at the beginning of the presidential campaign, where he said he felt it should be Beau running instead of him.

Beau Biden is survived by his two children, Natalie and Robert – born in 2004 and 2006 respectively.

Ashley Biden

The only child of Joe and Jill Biden, Ashley Biden was born in 1981 and went to attend the family’s chosen school – the University of Pennsylvania, before working as a senior social worker in Delaware’s children services department.

Aside from the worthy stuff, Ashley Biden has also had a few scrapes with (minor) scandal – being arrested for marijuana possession during her time at university, and for tussling with a police officer slightly afterwards.

When her father first entered the White House, a former friend of Ashley Biden attempted to sell a video, purporting to show her using harder drugs, to the New York Post. Joe Biden refused to comment on the story.

Naomi Biden

Born to Hunter Biden and his then partner Kathleen Buhle in 1994, Naomi Biden is the eldest of the President Elect’s grandchildren.

Naomi Biden also attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated, in 2016, in the same class as Tiffany Trump – Donald Trump’s only child from his second marriage. She has since attended Columbia Law School.

According to media reports, it was Naomi who played a key role in persuading her grandfather to run for president, calling an all-family meeting with the aim of sealing the deal.

Finnegan Biden

The second daughter of Hunter and Kathleen, 20-year-old Finnegan Biden is apparently a savvy political operator in her own right and a sizable influence on her grandfather.

The University of Pennsylvania student appeared on stage with candidate Joe throughout the primary and election campaigns, and has been tipped by some (perhaps overexcited) commenters for a future role in the White House.

Whatever happens, she will have somewhere to turn if she needs to rant about the pressures of being part of America’s first family – she is apparently close friends with both Sasha and Malia Obama.

The newcomers

In March this year, Joe Biden welcomed his seventh grandchild; the first child of Hunter Biden’s marriage to filmmaker Melissa Cohen.

It’s also probably worth making a quick mention of grandchild number six – a result of Hunter Biden’s fling with stripper Lunden Alexis Roberts. Hunter had originally denied paternity, but has since agreed to pay child support.

Oddly, despite the White House’s effort to leverage Hunter Biden’s past to damage his grandfather’s campaign, this latter scandal was never once mentioned by President Trump. One can only wonder why.