Hunter Biden suggests Ambien contributed to Joe Biden's poor debate performance
'I know exactly what happened in that debate,' Hunter Biden told YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan.
'He flew around the world basically the mileage he could have flown around the world three times. He's 81 years old. He's tired as sh–,' Hunter Biden said. 'They give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage, and he looks like a deer in the headlights.'
The interview was posted online on the anniversary of the former president's announcement that he would not seek reelection.
A spokesperson for the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden's debate performance was a turning point in the 2024 campaign. The former president spoke haltingly, mixed up words and struggled to complete his thoughts. Biden aides that nit attributed it to a cold and Biden later asserted in the days after the debate that he had been sick.
Some Biden allies have in the year since the debate offered up other explanations, including that the then-president was overworked and exhausted by a taxing trip to Europe before the debate. But Biden had spent roughly a week holed up at Camp David preparing for his debate with President Trump before taking the stage.
Hunter Biden took aim at several critics of his father during his interview with Callaghan, including actor George Clooney, who penned a New York Times op-ed urging the former president to drop out, and former Obama White House staffers like David Axelrod.
'David Axelrod, who had one success in his political life, and that was Barack Obama, and that was because of Barack Obama, not because of fuck— David Axelrod,' Hunter Biden said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
State Department to burn birth control worth $9.7M meant for poor nations
The U.S. government plans to destroy $9.7 million of contraceptives for poor nations, mainly in Africa, after the nation "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction." UPI file photo | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. government plans to destroy a stockpile of contraceptives worth $9.7 million for poor nations, mainly in Africa, after the State Department "explored all possible options to prevent the destruction." The contraceptives include nearly 2 million doses of injectables, 900,000 implantable devices and more than 2 million oral packets, according to internal auditing in April obtained by The Washington Post. Chelsea Polis, a researcher with Guttsmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, told the newspaper that the contraceptives could provide more than 650,000 women with pregnancy protection for up to one year and 950,000 women for three years. U.S. laws and rules prohibit sending U.S. aid to organizations that provide abortion services, counsel about the procedure or advocate for the right overseas. "The State Department confirms that a preliminary decision was made to destroy certain abortifacient birth control commodities from terminated Biden-era USAID contracts," a spokesperson said in a statement. "Only a limited number of commodities have been approved for disposal. No HIV medications or condoms are being destroyed." The destruction will cost $167,000, the spokesperson said. Most contraceptives have less than 70% of shelf life before expiration, the spokesperson said. The Guardian contacted an aide who visited the warehouse in Belgium and found the earliest expiration date was 2027. Two-thirds didn't have any labels. Belgium, the United Nations and humanitarian groups said they unsuccessfully stopped the destruction plans for the contraceptives. The U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump disbanded and merged into the State Department, was to have distributed them. They are part of a $9.5 billion program over 10 years to provide aid to more than 40 nations. The government said it based its decision on a policy that restricts funding for reproductive-related actions in the Mexico City Policy and the Kemp-Kasten amendment. President Ronald Reagan instituted the policy in 1985 and it has become a political issue. It has rescinded by Democratic presidents and reinstated by Republicans several times, including by President Donald Trump when he returned to office in January. A bipartisan group of U.S. legislators doesn't want the contraceptives to be destroyed, including Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Brian Schatz of Hawaii. "This is a waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars and an abdication of U.S. global leadership in preventing unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and maternal deaths," said Shaheen, who in June sent a letter to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the matter. The U.N. Population Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation were interested in receiving the contraceptives. "UNFPA was in conversation with Chemonics about purchasing the contraceptives but didn't receive an answer from them," UNFPA spokesman Eddie Wright said. "It's the height of hypocrisy for a government to preach efficiency and cutting waste, only to turn around and recklessly destroy lifesaving supplies when the need has never been greater," Micah Grzywnowicz, regional director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network, said in a statement MSI Reproductive Choices offered to pay for shipping and repackaging. MSI provides abortion services. "The complete dismantling of the world's largest donor for international family planning has been a catastrophe for the global supply chain of contraceptives," said Sarah Shaw, associate director of advocacy and for the organization. Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced an increase in teen births, according to a study at Columbia University in 2024. The number of births climbed from 4.5 million births in 2000 to 6.1 million in 2021as they decreased in the rest of the world. In Africa, 30% of all woman use birth control but more than half would use it if available, according to DebboAfrica, a healthcare company for African women. Worldwide, around half of women of reproductive age of 15-19 use some form of contraception, according to Focus2030. Foreign aid cuts could lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2023, including two-thirds children, according to a study published in Lancet earlier this month. Congress earlier this month passed legislation to remove $8 billion in foreign assistance. The Atlantic reported earlier this month that 551 tons of emergency food were expiring and will be incinerated rather than being fed to almost 1.5 million children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Almost 800,000 Mpox vaccines to be sent to Africa also are not usable because they are past their expiration date, Politico reported earlier this month.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
EDITORIAL: Trump should mull kicking Bondi out
Editor's note: This editorial originally ran in fellow CNHI paper Tahlequah (Oklahoma) Daily Press. So now some in the Trump administration are saying documents detailing the sex-trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein were invented by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. This smacks of another ridiculous move to rewrite history — something that's become all too common in the political arena these days, and by putting the kibosh on the implication that the files would be released, President Trump has now hoisted himself with his own petard. For many months now, conservative activists and pundits have demanded that Epstein's so-called 'client list' be made public. In fact, a number of speculative documents have been circulating just as long, featuring names of high-profile Democrats in political and entertainment circles. Some of the besmirched individuals are otherwise well-respected, without any blemishes to their reputations. At least, they were squeaky-clean until the speculative lists began making the rounds on social media. In hindsight, it's obvious that many conservatives — and more than a few liberals — believed the apparent slander generated by these lists. and given the nature of the targeted people, it's no surprise that Americans would want the guilty parties tarred and feathered, if rumors they were involved in trafficking children are true. At this point, it's impossible to say whether a list exists — and if there is, whose names might be on it. The smart money is on a swatch of elite from both political parties. But it wasn't the Democrats who were clamoring about the Epstein files; after all, according to the MAGA crowd, Democrats were implicated far more than Republicans. Indeed, many who are now in the Trump administration were among those pushing the hardest for a reveal. If Trump wants the furor over the supposed client list to die down, he's going to have to get rid of the people in his Cabinet who have used the purported existence of this document to damage the reputations of their perceived enemies. He'll have to start with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who strongly implied she had the list on her desk. Though she later clarified she was referring to the entire Epstein file, the fact that she's refusing to release whatever is there — or telling the American public to 'move along, nothing to see here' — smacks of a potential coverup. Bondi and others like her have two choices: either to admit they were making it all up as they went along to ruin a number of celebrities and well-heeled folks in the opposing camp, or to release the documents and let the chips fall where they may. If they don't, MAGA loyalists — the vast majority of whom believe the list exists — are going to turn on them. Whether they will turn on Trump is anybody's guess, but with the midterms looming, he can't really afford to take the chance. Trump's claim that 'nobody cares' about the Epstein case is dead wrong, and he knows it — although he may hope by saying that, it will come to pass. In this case, he's better off doing what he does best: Hang the purveyors of the sordid tale out to dry, thereby saving his own skin — and with it, his big, beautiful agenda. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump Is Trying to Hide the Cost of Renovating His New Air Force One
How much will it cost to renovate the Boeing 747-8 gifted by Qatar into the next Air Force One? That's classified information. But a recent $934 million transfer of funds to a Pentagon budget may hold a clue. The New York Times reported that this 'transfer' to an unnamed classified project described in a Pentagon document sent to Capitol Hill likely includes the cost of renovating the gifted plane into a lavish gold-accented flying palace for President Trump. The funds were moved to a budget dedicated to updating America's ground-based nuclear missiles, and Air Force officials told the paper that at least some of the funds for the renovations will come from the nuclear modernization project. Making the project even more absurd, because the renovations will take one or two years to complete, Trump will only fly in the plane as president for a short time until he leaves office and the plane is ostensibly transferred to his presidential library in 2029 — at least that is what Trump has said will happen. (Unless, that is, Trump finds a way to extend his time in office beyond this four year term, as he has often hinted at, though that would be extremely unconstitutional.) Among the improvements to the plane are upgrades to its communications systems and engines as well as the addition of antimissile systems. Plus, U.S. intelligence will need to identify and remove any covert listening devices that Qatar may have embedded in the plane's walls. Finally, the plane will be treated to similar internal decor to the Oval Office, which Trump has outfitted with tacky gold accents. Trump pursued the gift from Qatar, he said, because Boeing is years behind schedule to deliver two new planes to serve as Air Force Ones, a project that has already cost $4 billion. Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink testified to Congress in June about the cost to renovate the Qatar plane. 'I think there has been a number thrown around on the order of $1 billion,' he said. 'But a lot of those costs associated with that are costs that we'd have experienced anyway, we will just experience them early,' ahead of Boeing's scheduled delivery of its new Air Force Ones. 'So it wouldn't be anywhere near that.' He added, 'We believe the actual retrofit of that aircraft is probably less than $400 million.' But engineers and Air Force experts familiar with this kind of work shed doubt on that price tag, and members of Congress have voiced worries that Trump will want to use the plane quickly, and he will push the Air Force to complete the work before installing proper safety mechanisms. While the Pentagon will reveal the price to modernize America's ground-base nuclear missiles, it declined to share with the Times just how much the plane upgrades will cost. 'The more we learn about this deal, the more disturbing it becomes,' Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen told the paper. 'The security implications of accepting a private plane from a foreign nation as Air Force One and the resulting ethical concerns a gift of that sizes creates were already significant.' She also expressed concern that 'this administration is diverting funds from the nuclear modernization budget to finance costly renovations to this plane,' which means the U.S. is 'weakening our credibility to fund a vanity project for President Trump.' More from Rolling Stone Israel Seizes Aid Flotilla Bringing Baby Formula, Medicine to Gaza Oklahoma's Trump-Loving, Bible-Thumping Superintendent Faces Porn Probe The Democratic Party's Brand Is Cooked Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
