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Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, claims his father was taking Ambien at the time of his disastrous debate with President Donald Trump during an exclusive interview with Andrew Callaghan on his Channel 5 YouTube channel.
“I know exactly what happened in that debate,” Hunter said on the anniversary of his father ending his re-election campaign. “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.”
Former White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor noted six medications that Biden was taking six medications at the time of his physical exam in February 2024, which didn't include the sleeping aid drug.
Hunter also downplayed the extent of other Democrats revolting against his father leading up to the decision to end his campaign.
“The people who came out against him were nobody, except … Speaker emeritus [Nancy] Pelosi [D-Calif.] did not give a full-throated endorsement,” he said.
“The entirety of the progressive side of the Democratic Party said Joe Biden has got more of our agenda accomplished in four years than any president in history.”
Earlier this month, Hunter claimed the Democrats' disloyalty to his father played a major role in the party's 2024 election loss to Trump.
“We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party,” the younger Biden said former Democratic National Committee boss Jaime Harrison’s new podcast, At Our Table, according to excerpts shared by the Washington Post on July 16.
“That’s my position. We had the advantage of incumbency, we had the advantage of an incredibly successful administration, and the Democratic Party literally melted down,” he added in what serves as his first public interview of 2025.
Former President Biden pardoned his son on December 1, despite previously claiming he wouldn't take action to help Hunter during the G7 summit in June. Hunter was scheduled to be sentenced on separate federal gun and tax evasion cases later this month after pleading guilty in September to nine counts of evading the government of $1.4 million in taxes and being convicted of three federal gun charges for possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine in June.