Michelle Obama is privately expressing her annoyance with Democrat President Joe Biden’s family, a new report has revealed.
The former first lady is reportedly frustrated with how the family treated her friend Kathleen Buhle, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, after they divorced.
The issues have made Obama reluctant to openly campaign for the president, according to the report from Axios.
The former first lady became friends with Buhle while her husband was in office and Joe Biden was his vice president.
They have since remained close.
Hunter Biden and Buhle separated in 2015 and divorced in 2017.
Buhle wrote in her memoir “If We Break” about Hunter Biden’s addictions and infidelity fracturing their marriage.
She said she was “largely exiled” from the Biden family after their split, according to the report.
The Biden family was irked by Buhle’s book, although it came out a year after Hunter’s 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” which delved into his addiction issues.
Axios also reported in 2017 that former President Obama attended a Wilmington, Delaware, fundraiser for the Beau Biden Foundation, a children’s advocacy group.
At the time, the recently divorced Hunter Biden was dating his late brother’s widow, Hallie Biden.
According to a source who spoke to Axios, Barack Obama described the dynamics on display as “weird sh*t.”
However, he has since denied making such a statement.
Michelle Obama privately told others she felt Buhle had been wronged by the Bidens in the aftermath of the marriage’s collapse.
Additionally, she has not been out front on the campaign trail for Biden as he faces his re-election battle against President Donald Trump.
She does active work with a voter registration group, however.
The Axios report added that she was even “initially reluctant” to campaign for Biden when he first ran in 2020.
However, she did eventually help promote Biden’s campaign and spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
Despite the reported frostiness in the relationship, there are discussions about her joining the campaign trail to stump for Biden.
Michelle Obama’s approval ratings have been generally high, and she’s widely viewed as a strong political force by Democrats.
Obama and Biden appeared at a glitzy fundraiser together earlier this month and there’s no question about their mutual opposition to Trump.
However, while the families remain united politically, the relationship changed in 2015 when Obama discouraged Biden from running for president.
The move cleared the path for Hillary Clinton’s doomed 2016 campaign.
Obama’s camp has stressed it was partly about looking for Biden’s well-being, as he was in grief that year over the death of his son Beau.
Meanwhile, the White House pushed back on the Axios report in a statement.
“The Biden and Obama families are like family to each other, and whomever made these claims about that relationship isn’t familiar with it,” Biden’s gaslighting spokesman Andrew Bates said.
“The former president and first lady have been two of the strongest supporters of President Biden’s leadership and agenda.”
A spokesperson for Michelle Obama also denied the report by arguing that First Lady Jill Biden traveled for the memorial service this week for Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson.
“Mrs. Obama has already said she supports President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign,” said Crystal Carson, the former first lady’s communications director.
“She is friends with Kathleen and with the Bidens.
“Two things can be true.
“On Monday, Dr. Biden graciously joined the family to celebrate the life of Mrs. Marian Robinson.”
