ABC News' Jonathan Karl reports in "Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America," out next Tuesday, that Hunter Biden was furious with former President Obama for taking President Biden's hand to lead him off the stage at a Hollywood fundraiser last year.
Why it matters: The snippet went viral, reinforcing the impression that Biden was doddering.
Behind the scenes: "I almost jumped up on the stage and said, 'Don't ever f--king do that to the president of the United States again — ever," Hunter Biden, still furious months later, told Karl in one of their extensive interviews.
- The younger Biden insisted his dad was simply taking some time to acknowledge the crowd. "I knew that that was going to be a meme," Hunter recalled. "That really, really, really, really pissed me off."
"Retribution" — deeply reported by Karl, ABC's chief Washington correspondent and a co-anchor of "This Week"— shows why Trump's second term "is more radical and consequential than the first — changing America in ways that will far outlive the Trump presidency," a book preview says.
- Karl, who has written three previous bestsellers on Trump, told me that "Retribution" — now commonly used in news stories, was his plan for the title from the day that Trump was reelected.
Go deeper: More on the book ... Excerpt from The Atlantic, "Steve Bannon and the Murderers and Hitmen Who Became His 'Besties': What the man who has Trump's ear learned in prison."
