Former first son Hunter Biden on Friday defended Graham Platner, the embattled progressive candidate running for U.S. Senate in Maine, urging voters to give him a break during an appearance on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) podcast.
Platner, a Marine veteran and oyster farmer, has faced mounting scrutiny over his past conduct, particularly allegations involving his relationships with women and a tattoo linked to a symbol used by the Nazis. Despite the controversies, he won Tuesday’s Democratic primary, though questions remain about whether voters will continue to support him in the general election.
“He was a veteran, a combat veteran, and he came back,” Biden said. “He had some real issues, and with PTSD, and that trauma, and whatever way that he was working it out, I think he had been really open about.”
Biden argued most people would struggle to withstand the scrutiny directed at public figures, saying people deserve second chances.
Reports have revealed that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women shortly after marrying his wife in late 2023. Three former girlfriends accused him of emotionally abusive and volatile behavior. One woman told the New York Times that while Platner never hit her, he could be physically rough, including grabbing her shoulders and, on one occasion, forcefully seizing her wrist following an argument.
Deleted Reddit comments attributed to Platner between 2009 and 2021 also resurfaced. Some were critical of women, and in one post, he suggested women in the military should avoid becoming drunk to reduce the risk of sexual assault. Platner has also drawn criticism for pro-communist comments and anti-law enforcement remarks on social media.
Another controversy centers on a tattoo on Platner’s chest that resembles the Nazi Totenkopf symbol. The Totenkopf was used by Adolf Hitler’s SS-Totenkopfverbande, the unit that administered Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Platner has said he got the tattoo while drinking with fellow Marines in his 20s and was unaware of its connection to Nazi Germany.
“I’m 99.9% certain that Graham Platner is no Nazi,” Biden said. “I don’t think that he’s a racist in any way. I hear the way that he talks. I think that his relationship with his wife is his relationship with his wife. The entirety of that controversy is all about leaked consensual stuff.”
Biden compared the scrutiny facing Platner to the public rifling of private digital recordings.
“I always say to people, ‘Show me your phone, give me access to your iCloud, let’s go through it and pull everything that we can that is inappropriate, that is off-color, that selfie that you took when you’re drunk off your ass,’” he said.
Biden, whose laptop became the subject of a major political controversy during the 2020 election cycle, told Newsom that elected officials are often held to unrealistic standards.
“If that’s the standard by which we are going to judge people, particularly people in elected office, then I don’t think we’re going to have many people in elected office,” he said. “I have not heard anything in any way that would say to me that he is an abusive, misogynistic, antisemitic, or racist person.”
Biden also praised Platner’s policy views, citing his support for universal healthcare, political reform, and working-class voters. He said Platner believes workers are being disadvantaged by the current system and distracted by divisions among themselves rather than holding powerful interests accountable. Biden added that he appreciated Platner’s criticism of tech billionaires and corporate elites, whom he said have tilted the economic playing field against the working class.
Elsewhere in the episode, Biden reflected on the presidential pardon he received from his father, former President Joe Biden, acknowledging it may have hurt his father’s legacy.
“That’s how much you know my dad loves me,” Biden said.
The elder Biden had repeatedly said he would not interfere in the federal gun and tax cases against his son, but ultimately issued a full pardon shortly before Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced.
“My dad said that he wouldn’t give me a pardon, and he was absolutely 100% genuine about it,” Biden said. “He said it at a moment in time where he thought that he was going to be the next president of the United States and there would be a Justice Department that would treat me fairly.”
Biden said his father changed his mind after President Donald Trump won reelection and publicly floated former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
“If it was in a Mitt Romney administration, if it was in a John McCain administration, if it was anybody that was an actual Republican and not a tyrant or a fascist, my dad would not have pardoned me,” he said.
THE DEMOCRATS’ THREE DEFENSES OF GRAHAM PLATNER
On a lighter note, Hunter Biden joked about becoming Newsom’s running mate in a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Newsom, who is term-limited as governor this year, is widely expected to seek the White House, though he has not announced a bid.
“Here’s the deal. I’ll run, but only as your VP because the truth of the matter is that the vice president’s residence is a lot cooler,” he said. “It’s a lot easier job, too.”