In a new interview Monday, Hunter Biden claimed that his father’s widely criticized debate performance against Donald Trump last year was partly the result of taking Ambien—despite no public record of the 46th president ever being prescribed the sleep aid.
“I know exactly what happened in that debate,” Hunter, 55, told YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan in an interview released on the anniversary of Biden ending his re-election bid, the New York Post reported. “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.”
A note released by Dr. Kevin O’Connor following President Biden’s physical exam on February 28, 2024, listed six medications the commander-in-chief was taking—but Ambien was not among them. The Post also reviewed Biden’s publicly available medical records and found no indication of an Ambien prescription.
Hunter Biden did not specify how long his father may have been using the sleep aid prior to the debate, during which Biden’s stumbling performance against Donald Trump triggered a wave of panic within the Democratic Party and ultimately led to his decision to exit the race.
Joe Biden traveled to Italy for the G7 summit from June 13 to 15, 2024, shortly after attending events in France marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day. By June 20, he had retreated to Camp David to prepare for the high-stakes debate scheduled for June 27.
Hunter Biden also downplayed the scale of the Democratic backlash that ultimately forced his father to relinquish the party’s nomination. “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,” he added. After the debate, Hunter Biden said his father faced the daunting challenge of convincing party leaders that he was still capable of leading the Democratic ticket against Trump, The Post noted.
