Report: Hunter Biden has been fighting for years to avoid paying millions in child support to his ex-wife

In addition to two upcoming criminal trials that could put the First Son behind bars, Hunter Biden also owes millions of dollars in child support to his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, according to a new report. Ms. Buhle is scheduled to testify this week at his trial in Delaware over an illegal gun purchase.

According to District of Columbia court records first obtained by Axios, Mr. Biden owed Ms. Buhle nearly $3 million in alimony as part of their April 2023 divorce settlement. The two were married for 24 years and have three children.

Their 2017 divorce settlement stipulated that Biden should pay his former wife $37,000 a month and half of his annual income of more than $875,000, court records show. When Biden failed to make those payments shortly after the divorce, Ms. Buhle filed a civil lawsuit against him in a Washington, D.C., court in 2019.

She claimed that Biden refused to pay in both 2017 and 2018, even though he earned millions annually from nonpayment of his taxes, according to his indictment, which was the first to reveal the existence of the child support agreement.

“On or about October 13, 2018, instead of responding to DC Accountant, the defendant texted his ex-wife that he could not make his child support payments because 'the transfer came back for insufficient funds -/You know, tuition, child support taxes, rent. Jeez,'” the indictment, filed in California, states. “The defendant had not yet paid his 2017 taxes when he sent this text message.”

“'I have no money [ex-wife]”I am waiting on a few things. If I can pay the taxes, I will pay the taxes. In the meantime, I am struggling to pay your support and all of the girls' expenses,” Mr. Biden wrote to Ms. Buhle.

On January 29, 2021, the D.C. Superior Court found that Mr. Biden had breached his divorce agreement with Ms. Buhle and owed her $1.7 million in alimony, fees and legal costs at the time. By 2023, the amount owed had risen to $2.9 million, according to Ms. Buhle's attorney.

Ms Buhle's lawyer stated in that April 2023 court document that Mr Biden “borrowed millions of dollars to pay back taxes and accrued child support (as well as legal fees) in Arkansas,” which affected his ability to make his child support payments.

A wealthy Hollywood lawyer, Kevin Morris, bankrolled the First Son's lifestyle. He told House investigators that he had about $100 million and paid Biden's rent and legal fees after helping him pay off his tax debts, which totaled more than $1 million, according to the California indictment.

“Ms. Buhle has previously told this court that the cost and emotional toll this has taken on her is enormous and seems never-ending. Those feelings have not changed,” her attorney wrote in April 2023.

At one point, the child support dispute became incredibly bitter, with the First Son suggesting that his ex-wife was trying to embarrass President Biden during his 2020 campaign.

“There is likely hope that there will be a financial intervention funded by a third party to assist Mr. Biden in his obligations to avoid the expected embarrassment to his father's presidential campaign,” his lawyer wrote in a July 2020 legal document. “There will be no intervention to fulfill Mr. Biden's obligations.”

Ms. Buhle will soon face her ex-husband in court, though not over the child support dispute. Special counsel David Weiss has called Ms. Buhle as a witness in his federal case over an illegal gun purchase – a trial set to begin on Monday. She and her former sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, who was married to Beau Biden before his death and then began an affair with their first son, are expected to talk about Mr. Biden's crippling drug addiction after his brother's death and his purchase of the firearm in 2018.

Ms. Buhle is listed as “Witness 1” in a list of witnesses Mr. Weiss submitted in federal court in Delaware. “Witness 1 was previously married to the defendant. They divorced in April 2017, but until 2018, she checked his vehicle from time to time because she did not want her children traveling in a vehicle with drugs. While searching his vehicles, she found drugs or paraphernalia approximately a dozen times, which she threw in a trash can,” Mr. Weiss wrote.