House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., told Newsmax on Monday that Hunter Biden's assertion that his father, then-President Joe Biden, took Ambien in 2024 did his congressional panel a favor — that tidbit had never been disclosed before.
Further, given that Ambien is a Schedule IV controlled substance, Hunter Biden's admission gives more fuel to House Republicans' investigation of President Biden's autopen use, he said.
Comer joined "Finnerty" hours after an interview with Hunter Biden aired in which he blamed Ambien use for his father's "horrible" debate performance with Republican then-presidential candidate Donald Trump on June 27, 2024.
"I appreciate the interview, because what Hunter Biden said was that Joe Biden was on a controlled substance, and that's what Ambien is. This has never been made public before.
"And this is an issue. Was this a one-time instance where he took an Ambien, or was he a regular user of Ambien?" Comer told host Rob Finnerty.
Hunter Biden's interview came one year to the day after the elder Biden ended his 2024 reelection bid. And the debate from a few weeks earlier set the wheels in motion for him to bow out.
"I know exactly what happened in that debate," Hunter Biden said. "He flew around the world. He's 81 years old. He's tired. They give him Ambien to be able to sleep, and he gets up on the stage and looks like a deer in the headlights."
He added that "there's no arguing that it was anything but an absolutely horrible debate."
And Biden's annual physical report in February 2024 did not list Ambien among the six medicines he was taking.
"This could affect his decision-making. And again, that's what this whole investigation is about," Comer said. "We call it the autopen investigation, but at the end of the day, it's about did Joe Biden have the mental wherewithal to know what was being used in the autopen to have his name signed on it."
"The fact that Joe Biden did an interview with The New York Times and said that — and admitted — that he didn't know who all those people were that [he] gave pardons," Comer said.
Biden "delegated that to staff," he added. "And now, with Hunter Biden saying his dad was on a very serious drug, then I think we've got even more evidence to suggest that Joe Biden had no idea what was going on in that White House."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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