On Monday night, Fox News host Sean Hannity played his audience a voicemail left by Joe Biden for his son, Hunter Biden, in which he encouraged him to get help for his drug addiction.
After playing the message, Hannity described it to his audience as "actually sad" before pivoting to say that it "came at the exact same time Hunter lied on a gun application to buy a handgun."
However, Hannity's decision to attack Biden over the phone message drew a sharp rebuke even from some fellow conservatives, including Newsmax foreign correspondent Alex Salvi.
"I don’t think attacking Pres. Biden for telling his son 'I love you' and trying to get him help for his drug addiction is the effective strategy Republicans thinks it is," Salvi wrote on Twitter. "This is a hard conversation many parents across the country have had themselves."
Hunter Biden, who has in the past written about his struggles with addiction, is currently under investigation for alleged tax fraud and a potentially illegal gun purchase. The Washington Post reported last week that agents investigating the president's son believe they have accumulated enough evidence to charge him.
NOW WATCH: ‘Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed’: VP Kamala Harris urges state pardons