Hunter Biden says his father was on the prescription sedative Ambien before an "absolutely horrible" debate performance last year against now-President Donald Trump.
His comments, made in a three-hour interview with the YouTube show "Channel 5," were published Monday, the anniversary of when then-President Joe Biden abandoned his 2024 reelection bid.
"I know exactly what happened in that debate," said Hunter Biden, who was pardoned by his father for any crimes he might have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. "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."
The elder Biden traveled to France from June 5 to 9 and Italy from June 13 to 15 before returning to Los Angeles for a fundraiser hosted by George Clooney on June 15, during which he froze briefly and was escorted off the stage by former President Barack Obama. Biden then spent the week before the debate at Camp David.
The Food and Drug Administration noted that people over 70 are more susceptible to confusion and falls while on Ambien. Biden's annual physical report in February 2024 did not list Ambien among the six medicines he was taking.
Kevin O'Connor, Biden's personal physician who released the report, insisted after the debate that Biden's mental and physical fitness was "excellent."
Earlier this month, O'Connor invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he refused a House committee's questions regarding allegations of a cover-up of the former president's mental capabilities.
Biden's debate performance raised more alarm about his cognitive abilities. He often appeared confused, his speech was rambling, and he was pictured with his mouth agape as Trump answered questions. This led other Democrats to urge him to step down and let then-Vice President Kamala Harris take over the party's presidential campaign.
"They said, 'We are going to blow up the party if you don't drop out,'" Hunter Biden said. "'We're going to protest this all the way up for the next month, all the way up to the convention.'
After the debate, Hunter Biden says his father was left with the impossible task of proving to party leaders that he was up to campaigning against Trump.
"He gets over the hump, he goes and does [an interview with ABC News' George] Stephanopoulos," Hunter Biden said. "Everybody goes, 'OK, that's not enough, we've got to see him give a press conference.'"
At the July 11 news conference, Joe Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "Vladimir," apparently confusing him with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Harris as Trump — "I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president [if] I didn't think she was qualified to be president" — and referring to the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the "commander in chief" before correcting himself.
Hunter Biden said he did not see it coming when his father dropped out of the race.
"I thought that we had cleared all the hurdles that they had set up for us," he said. "And so, if you remember, it was a horrible debate, and there's no arguing that it was anything but an absolutely horrible debate. And I think it scared the [expletive] out of a lot of people because they were already concerned about his age."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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