Hunter Biden blamed the sleeping pill Ambien for then-President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last year.
The younger Biden made the remarks in an expletive-laden interview on YouTube’s “Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan” that was released Monday, the first anniversary of his father’s decision to drop out of the presidential race.
“I know exactly what happened in that debate. He flew around the world basically [and the?] mileage that he could have flown around the world three times, he’s 81 years old, he’s tired as s—, they give him Ambien to be able to sleep, he’s gets up on the stage and he looks like he’s a deer in the headlights,” Hunter Biden said in the interview.
“And it feeds into every f—ing story that anybody wants to tell.”
The former president’s office declined to comment.
The elder Biden had previously blamed exhaustion for his debate performance, but had not mentioned any sleeping aid.
“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times … shortly before the debate,” he said at a campaign fundraiser in McLean, Virginia, days after the debate.
“I didn’t listen to my staff … and then I almost fell asleep onstage,” he quipped.
In the weeks before the debate, Biden went to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day and then returned to the U.S. before he departed for the Group of Seven Summit in Italy. He then attended a Los Angeles fundraiser on June 15 — 12 days before the debate.
He also spent several days at Camp David, Maryland, preparing for his showdown with Donald Trump.
Aides had also previously blamed Biden’s debate performance on a cold.
In the same Channel 5 interview, Hunter Biden also rebuked several prominent Democrats who had called for his father to drop out of the race following the debate — including actor George Clooney.
“F— him and f— everyone around him,” Biden said.
He also denied that he was responsible for a bag of cocaine that was discovered in a highly trafficked part of the West Wing in 2023.
In May, Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino announced the bureau was reopening the probe into the discovery earlier this year. Trump suggested in an interview earlier this year that “either Hunter or Joe” was responsible.
“They’ve convinced themselves it had to be me,” the younger Biden, who has spoken extensively about his drug addiction and struggles to get sober, told Callaghan.
“I have been clean and sober since June of 2019, and I have not touched a drop of alcohol or a drug and I’m incredibly, incredibly proud of that,” he added.
