Hunter Biden has given a three-hour interview to the US outlet Channel 5 in which he launched a profanity-filled tirade against actor George Clooney, denied being the source of cocaine found in the White House, and reflected on his father's poor debate performance before dropping out of the presidential race.
“Fuck him!” the 55-year-old said of Clooney, referring to the actor’s July 2024 New York Times opinion piece calling on the Democratic Party to find a new presidential nominee. “Fuck him and everybody around him. I don’t have to be fucking nice.” Biden also echoed Quentin Tarantino’s view that Clooney is not a true actor but “a brand”.
Hunter Biden suggested Clooney was motivated by anger over Joe Biden’s criticism of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Clooney’s wife, Amal Clooney, had advised the ICC on the matter. “He was very, very angry that my dad did not pay homage to her,” he said.
On his father’s debate performance against Donald Trump, Hunter Biden said it was “absolutely horrible” and that Joe Biden had to drop out or face opposition from fellow Democrats “every step of the way”. He attributed the poor showing to his father being “tired as shit” and taking Ambien to sleep, which left him looking “like a deer in the headlights”.
Hunter Biden also denied claims that the cocaine discovered in a White House locker in 2023 belonged to him, asserting he has been clean and sober since June 2019. “Why would I bring cocaine into the White House and stick it into a cubby outside … the situation room?” he asked.
The interview comes amid ongoing Republican investigations into Joe Biden’s presidency and his pre-emptive pardons, including of Hunter Biden. Tommy Vietor, a former Obama White House official, criticised the younger Biden’s approach, saying it was “insular, dare I say arrogant”.
