Hunter Biden suggests Ambien might be to blame for father's disastrous debate
"I'll tell you what, 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 gets up on stage and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights. And it feeds into f****** story that anybody wants to tell," Hunter Biden said on the YouTube show "Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan."
Hunter Biden later told ABC News' Jonathan Karl he was not saying that his father was taking Ambien immediately before the debate -- he was making a point about his travel schedule in the weeks before the debate.
"I have no idea whether or not he used Ambien while traveling through multiple times zones in the weeks leading up to the debate. My point was that his debate performance was completely out of character then and now, he said."
The former president's team declined to comment to ABC News.
Hunter Biden continued to forcefully push back on any assertion that there was some sort of cover-up of his father's condition, and said that progressives rushed to his father's side to laud his agenda in the fallout of that debate. He claimed that, at first, Nancy Pelosi was the lone voice doubting Joe Biden's place on the Democratic ticket.
"If this was a conspiracy … somehow the entirety of a White House in which you literally living on top of each other has kept their mouth shut, about, you know…and what's the conspiracy? That Joe Biden got old? Yeah, he got old. He got old before our eyes," Hunter Biden said.
He continued: "The people that came out against him were who? Nobody, except Speaker Pelosi, emeritus. Speaker Emeritus Pelosi did not give a full-throated endorsement, which allowed everyone else to go 'Ok.' Except who came out full-throated? Progressives, AOC, Bernie, the entire progressive wing. Ro Khanna. The entire progressive side of the Democratic Party said Joe Biden has got more of our agenda accomplished in four years than any president in history."
Pelosi's office declined to comment to ABC News.
MORE: Biden falters in high-stakes debate, Trump spews falsehoods
Along with discussing his father's debate performance, Hunter Biden also denied that the bag of cocaine found in the White House complex back in 2023 belonged to him.
A suspect was never identified by the Secret Service.
"There's this conflation people have. I mean, I think they're opening up an investigation to cocaine that was found in a cubby outside the West Wing of the White House," Hunter Biden said.
Hunter Biden said that since the incident occurred while his father was president, he was immediately targeted.
"They're literally going to do an FBI -- another congressional investigation because they're convinced themselves that it had to be me. That there was a little tiny … I guess my point of view on bringing it up is that, no, I have been clean and sober since June of 2019, and I have not touched a drop of alcohol or drug and I'm incredibly proud of that," Hunter Biden said.
He denied that the drugs were his.
MORE: Photos show cocaine found inside White House complex in July
"Why would I bring cocaine to the White House, stick it into a cubby outside the situation room in the West Wing? When I wasn't there anyway. I mean, who the f*** knows?" Hunter Biden said.
Hunter Biden then said he found it ironic that he was questioned about his drug and alcohol addiction by former Rep. Matt Gaetz during closed-door dispositions on Capitol Hill, as Gaetz was also embroiled in drug and sex scandals.
"I demanded that they do it in public, and they refused .... Matt Gaetz, of all people, was giving me s*** about my drug use. I said, 'Really? All the people at this table, you're going to talk to me about my addiction and my alcoholism?'" Hunter Biden said.
In a statement to ABC News, Gaetz responded, "It is a real shame that the Republican Congress never issued a subpoena to Hunter Biden for live testimony in public. It's also still troubling to me that Republicans in congress allowed Hunter to testify absent the video recording we usually make of witnesses. These would have been great moments for the country to see. The transcripts don't do them justice. Hunter tried to use references to his drug use to avoid accountability for his international shake down business. I hope he's enjoying his pardon."
Hunter Biden spoke with Callaghan for over three hours in a wide-ranging conversation.
-ABC News' Will Steakin contributed to this report.
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