Hunter Biden has revealed that his father, former President Joe Biden, was taking the insomnia drug Ambien during his career-ending debate performance against President Donald Trump.
In an interview with YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan, Hunter also unloaded on CNN host Jake Tapper and actor George Clooney; lashed out at people getting “upset” over illegal immigration; and denied that cocaine found at the White House in 2023 was his.
But his comments about his father’s apparent use of Ambien have already raised eyebrows, particularly as there does not seem to be a record of the former president being prescribed the sleep aid.
Asked about the disastrous presidential debate, Hunter replied: “I know exactly what happened in that debate. He flew around the world... He’s 81 years old. He’s tired as sh-it, they give him Ambien to be able to sleep, and he gets up on the stage and he looks like a deer in the headlights.”
The CNN presidential debate against Trump took place more than a year ago and ultimately changed the trajectory of the 2024 race; Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 2024.
Biden had asked for the showdown, hoping to convince Americans he had the mental fitness to be in office for another four years.
But about 12 minutes in, the then president, who looked sluggish from the moment he took the stage, appeared to lose his train of thought partway through an answer about the economy.
The performance was particularly startling as Biden had just spent several days hunkered down at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, where mock debate sessions were held in a movie theatre on the property with 16 advisers.
Ambien is a sedative-hypnotic that is generally used to treat people for insomnia. The Daily Beast has reached out to the former president’s office for comment but has yet to hear back.
The Hunter Biden interview was a rarity for the former first son, who has kept a low profile in recent years as scandal engulfed him.
In the expletive-laden interview, the 55-year-old also hit out at CNN’s Jake Tapper, whose book Original Sin tells the story of Biden’s decline and cover-up.
“What influence does Jake Tapper have over anything? He has the smallest audience on cable news!” Hunter said.
Of George Clooney, who penned an opinion piece last year urging Joe Biden to stand down, Hunter said: “George Clooney is not a f---ing actor. I don’t know what he is. He’s a brand... What right do you have to step on a man who’s given 52 years of his f--king life to the service of this country?”
And he also unloaded on Democratic stalwart James Carville, who he said “hasn’t won a race in 40 f---ing years,” as well as David Axelrod, saying he “had one success in his political life and that was Barack Obama and that was because of Barack Obama.”
Hunter also launched into an angry rant about people who get upset about undocumented immigrants in America.
“People are really upset about illegal immigration? F--k you. How do you think your hotel room gets cleaned? How do you think you have food on your f--ing table? Who do you think washes your dishes?” he said.
A recovering drug addict, Hunter Biden was convicted last year for illegally purchasing a gun in 2018 and later pleaded guilty to tax evasion in a separate criminal case.
When a bag of cocaine was found in the White House in 2023, some Republicans claimed, without evidence, that it was his. The FBI under director Kash Patel has since reopened an investigation into the matter.
But Hunter said he had nothing to do with it, telling Callaghan: “I have not touched a drop of alcohol or a drug, and I’m incredibly proud of that.”
