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President Biden was accompanied by his embattled son Hunter on Tuesday as he departed Washington for a four-day trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland, meant to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and underscore U.S. commitment to economic development in the region.
The president boarded Air Force One alongside his son and sister Valerie Biden Owens as the group set off for Belfast, where they will be greeted by U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later Tuesday.
Before departing, Mr. Biden told reporters that he was being joined by “just two of my family members who hadn’t been there before.”
Hunter Biden’s trip with the president is likely to draw scrutiny from Republican lawmakers who have zeroed in on the Biden family’s long trail of overseas business dealings.
Mr. Biden said his top priority for this week’s trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland is to “keep the peace” and “make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor agreement stay in place.”
The U.S.-backed pact forged peace between Northern Ireland’s pro-independence Catholic movement and the Protestant British loyalists who wanted to remain part of the U.K.
The president is expected to hold bilateral talks with Mr. Sunak on Wednesday before delivering remarks underscoring the U.S. commitment to peace in the region and support economic development in Northern Ireland.
He will then travel to Dublin to hold separate meetings on Thursday with Irish President Michael Higgins and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
