Hunter Biden claimed in a new interview that his father, Joe Biden, was taking the prescription sleep aid Ambien in the days leading up to his widely criticized debate performance against Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign season. The younger Biden made the claim during a three-hour appearance on the YouTube show Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, adding a previously unreported detail to the conversation around the president's debate struggles and subsequent exit from the 2024 race, USA Today reports.
"I know exactly what happened in that debate," Hunter said. He described his father, then 81, as exhausted after international travel—"basically the mileage that he could have flown around the world three times"—and suggested the sleep aid contributed to Biden appearing "like a deer in the headlights" on stage. Ambien, commonly prescribed for insomnia, can cause lingering drowsiness and mental fog, and the side effects are more common in those over age 70, the New York Post reports.
The president's team had attributed his shaky June 27 debate showing to a relentless travel schedule but had not mentioned sleep medication. Biden stumbled over words and failed to complete thoughts during what turned out to be his only debate appearance of the campaign. The performance fueled calls from high-profile Democrats, including actor George Clooney and strategists James Carville and David Axelrod, for Biden to step aside. Hunter, in the interview, responded with harsh criticism of these figures, particularly targeting Clooney as a "brand" rather than an actor and dismissing Carville as out of touch. Biden ultimately ended his reelection bid less than a month after the debate and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
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