亨特·拜登，在一次采访YouTube主持人安德鲁·卡拉汉(Andrew Callaghan)周一表示，他的父亲、前总统乔·拜登服用安眠药安必恩，并暗示这可能是他灾难性辩论的罪魁祸首唐纳德·特朗普这最终导致他放弃竞选连任。
“我告诉你，我确切地知道在那场辩论中发生了什么。他基本上环游了世界，以及他本来可以环游世界三次的里程。他已经81岁了。他累极了。他们给他安必恩让他能够入睡。他站在舞台上，看起来就像车灯前的小鹿。亨特·拜登在YouTube的“安德鲁·卡拉汉第五频道”节目中说:“它可以成为任何人都想讲述的故事。”
亨特·拜登后来告诉ABC新闻的乔纳森·卡尔，他并不是说他的父亲在辩论前立即服用了安眠药——他是在强调他在辩论前几周的旅行计划。
“我不知道他在辩论前几周穿越多个时区时是否使用了安必恩。我的观点是，他的辩论表现完全不符合当时和现在的性格，他说。
这位前总统的团队拒绝对美国广播公司新闻发表评论。
亨特·拜登继续有力地反驳任何关于他父亲的病情被掩盖的说法，并表示，在那场辩论的余波中，进步人士纷纷站在他父亲一边，称赞他的议程。他声称，起初，南希·佩洛西是唯一一个怀疑乔·拜登在民主党候选人名单上的位置的人。
“如果这是一个阴谋…不知何故，你们住在一起的整个白宫都守口如瓶，你知道…这是什么阴谋?乔·拜登变老了?是啊，他老了。他在我们眼前变老了，”亨特·拜登说。
他继续说:“出来反对他的人是谁?没有人，除了名誉议长佩洛西。名誉议长佩洛西没有全力支持，这让其他人都可以说“好”除了谁出来的时候声音洪亮?进步派，AOC，伯尼，整个进步派。罗康娜。民主党的所有进步人士都说，乔·拜登在四年里完成的议程比历史上任何一位总统都多。"
佩洛西的办公室拒绝对美国广播公司新闻发表评论。
除了讨论他父亲的辩论表现，亨特·拜登还否认了2023年在白宫发现的那袋可卡因属于他。
嫌疑人从未被确认被特勤局逮捕。
“人们有这种融合。我的意思是，我认为他们正在对在白宫西翼外的一个小房间里发现的可卡因展开调查，”亨特·拜登说。
亨特·拜登说，由于事件发生时他的父亲是总统，他立即成为目标。
“他们真的要进行一次美国联邦调查局式的国会调查，因为他们确信必须是我。有一点点……我想我提出这个问题的观点是，不，自2019年6月以来，我一直保持清洁和清醒，我没有碰过一滴酒或毒品，我对此非常自豪，”亨特·拜登说。
他否认毒品是他的。
“我为什么要把可卡因带到白宫，放在西翼情况室外面的一个小房间里?反正我不在的时候。我的意思是，谁他妈的知道?”亨特·拜登说。
亨特·拜登接着说，他觉得具有讽刺意味的是，在国会山的闭门会议期间，前众议员马特·盖兹(Matt Gaetz)就像盖兹一样，询问了他的吸毒和酗酒问题也卷入了毒品和性丑闻。
“我要求他们在公共场合这样做，他们拒绝了....在所有人当中，马特·盖兹向我透露了我吸毒的情况。我说，‘真的吗?坐在这张桌子上的所有人，你要和我谈论我的毒瘾和酗酒吗?”亨特·拜登说道。
在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中，盖兹回应说，“共和党国会从未向亨特·拜登发出公开现场作证的传票，这是一个真正的耻辱。同样令我困扰的是，国会中的共和党人允许亨特在我们通常对证人进行录像的情况下作证。这些将会是这个国家见证的伟大时刻。文字记录对他们不公平。亨特试图利用他的吸毒来逃避他的国际勒索业务的责任。我希望他享受他的赦免。”
亨特·拜登与卡拉汉进行了三个多小时的广泛交谈。
Hunter Biden suggests Ambien might be to blame for father's disastrous debate
Hunter Biden, during aninterviewwith YouTube host Andrew Callaghan released on Monday, said his father, former PresidentJoe Biden, was taking the sleep aid Ambien and suggested that could have been to blame for his disastrous debate againstDonald Trumpthat ultimately resulted in him stepping away from his re-election bid.
"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.
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 suspectwas never identifiedby 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.
"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 wasalso embroiledin 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.
