Hunter Biden, son of former president Joe Biden, attributed the Democrats’ 2024 election loss to the fact that they abandoned his father as the party's leader.
Speaking for the first time since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Hunter Biden offered his perspective on the election during a new podcast, At Our Table, hosted by former Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison.
“We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party,” Hunter Biden said.
“That’s my position. We had the advantage of incumbency, we had the advantage of an incredibly successful administration, and the Democratic Party literally melted down.”
After Joe Biden’s disappointing and concerning debate performance against Trump last June, Democrats scrambled to create a “Plan B” – placing former vice president Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, and drafting in Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as their VP pick.
But it took weeks for Joe Biden, then the oldest person to serve as president, to agree to drop out of the race after a pressure campaign by some in the Democratic party and donors.
In that time, Trump continued to aggressively campaign, picking up undecided voters amid a Democratic party in turmoil. And while Harris revitalized support among young people, it wasn’t enough to defeat the Republican nominee.
Hunter Biden’s take on his father’s political demise stands in contrast to reports that have emerged in books addressing the tumultuous 2024 election.
According to 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, Joe Biden was mentally preoccupied with his son’s federal gun trial, and the possibility of Hunter going to prison, at the height of election campaigning last summer.
Hunter was convicted on three federal gun charges for unlawfully purchasing and possessing a firearm in 2018 while battling substance use disorder. Despite claiming he would not pardon Hunter if found guilty, Joe Biden granted his son a full pardon shortly before leaving office.
Another book, Original Sin, written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent, Alex Thompson, alleges that the White House and Biden family tried to conceal the president’s declining mental and physical health toward the end of his term.
But in excerpts from this week’s podcast, Hunter Biden told Harrison that the reports about his father’s health were incorrect and the books were sold on “the idea of a conspiracy.”
He claimed that if his father had been suffering from a serious ailment, it would have been known in Washington D.C. because secrets do not stay secrets.
Since leaving the White House, Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Hunter Biden also denied allegations that he played a role in helping his father politically, saying that he “stayed as far away” from his father as possible during his campaign.
“You think Jake Tapper’s telling the truth when he says that I was the acting chief of staff of the president’s? I was in that White House 12 days over the course of the last two years of the administration. Clearly, because I had other things going on, OK?” Hunter said, according to The Hill.
“Which, by the way, broke my heart,” Hunter Biden added.
The first episode of Harrison’s podcast will air Thursday, and also features Tim Walz.
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