Valerie Biden Owens and Hunter DID foot part of the bill for their trip to Ireland, White House says
Daily MailThe White House on Tuesday confirmed that the president's son and sister 'paid for their way' during their journey with President Biden to their ancestral homeland – without providing more specifics about the nature of the costs they incurred. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre finally spoke to the logistics at her first press briefing since she and Biden returned from the four day trip, which included visits with Biden's extended family members in County Lough and County Mayo – along with a series of highs, lows, and occasional gaffes. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Hunter Biden and Valerie Biden Owens 'paid for their own way' when accompanying President Joe Biden on his trip to Ireland last week. President Joe Biden got help from his son Hunter as he took questions from children when he arrived in Dublin Former Irish rugby union player Rob Kearney, a distant Biden relative, was on hand when the president spoke at a pub President Joe Biden visits the Mayo Roscommon Hospice in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland, where a plaque bears his son Beau's name. The trip featured visits to County Mayo as well as County Lough, where Biden traces family roots The White House staged a spectacular farewell speech President Joe Biden's sister Valerie Biden Owens, left, and his son Hunter Biden watch as President Biden greets people at Dublin International Airport in Dublin, Ireland The trip was a family reunion for Biden, although he also marked the 25th anniversary of the Belfast / Good Friday Agreement Hunter and Valerie, 77, drew notice on the Ireland trip in part because the White House acknowledged the trip was partly personal – an assessment backed up by a visit to a church where one of Biden's Blewitt ancestors helped provide the bricks, time at a genealogy center, and a trip to a pub with family connections where his rugby-playing distant cousin caught up with him.