Aides reportedly tried to anticipate the fallout from Biden's son's dealings in Ukraine back in 2014, but were shut down because he was consumed by grief

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• Joe Biden's aides in 2014 tried to get him to address questions over his son's job at a Ukrainian gas company, but were hampered because of family tragedy, The New York Times reported.
• Hunter Biden's role at Burisma prompted criticism at the time, and has emerged as the primary attack line against Biden in his 2020 campaign for president.
• Current and former Biden and White House aides told the Times that attempts to get Biden to push back in public against criticism were "simply not worth risking a scolding."
• At the time Hunter Biden was struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, and his brother, Beau Biden, was hospitalized with brain cancer. Times sources say this clouded Biden's action.
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Aides to Vice President Joe Biden in 2014 prompted him to confront criticism of Hunter Biden's decision to join a Ukrainian gas company, but were rebuffed because of family tragedy, The New York Times reported.

Hunter Biden's decision to join the board of Burisma Holdings raised questions in the US media given his father's position, and involvement in the conflict between and Russia and Ukraine.

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