Latest news with #2024campaign
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Hunter Biden blames Ambien for Joe's debate performance
Hunter Biden blamed the sleep aid Ambien for his father's disastrous presidential debate performance, which became a turning point in the 2024 campaign. The younger Biden sat down for a three-hour-long interview with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan, which was released Monday - the anniversary of former President Biden's decision to quit his reelection campaign and endorse his Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden also talked extensively about his own drug use in the sit-down, including how he learned how to make his own crack. 'I know exactly what happened in that debate,' Biden said. 'He flew around the world. He's 81 years old. He's tired. They gave him Ambien to be able to sleep and he gets up on the stage and looks like a deer in the headlights.' The then president blamed his lousy June 27, 2024 performance on a cold, though had spent several days at Camp David resting up ahead of the Atlanta showdown with now President Donald Trump. It wasn't enough to quiet the calls for him to drop out. The former first son remained bitter about what happened to his father, though told Callaghan he was able to remain sober the whole time. Biden said he was just over six years sober after spending about three years, after the 2015 death of his brother Beau, in the pits of addiction to alcohol and crack. 'This is like a PSA - if you want to completely, utterly [expletive] up your life,' Biden said, crack would do the job. 'The only difference between crack and cocaine is sodium bicarbonate and water and heat,' he explained. 'You can go to a your neighborhood convenience store and just get - anyway, I don't want to tell people how to make, how to make crack, but it literally is a mayonnaise jar of [class A drug] and baking soda.' Biden said the high is extremely intense on crack. 'It's vastly, vastly different,' the recovering addict admitted. 'I feel really reluctant to kind of have some euphoric discussion, I know you're not asking me to do that, have some euphoric discussion about crack,' he continued, with Callaghan saying that he was not. 'I don't want to have the experience of some euphoric recall - that's how powerful crack is,' Biden admitted. The former first son said that crack had a dirty reputation but 'it's the exact opposite.' 'When you make crack, what you're doing is you're burning off all the impurities,' he explained. Biden said his addiction in earnest started in 2016, when he left an alcohol recovery program over a row with staff and found his former dealer 'Bicycles' in a downtown Washington, D.C. park who sold him crack. 'Now there are periods where I would stop. I would try and get help or half try and get help or appease people in my life and say that I was getting help. And so I did a whole host of things to try and pull myself out of it. I did try,' he remembered. 'And people would come in and out of my web and try and help me, and my level of toxicity would drag them down until they would disappear. And then people that would come into my life that were nothing but blood sucking leeches that would literally saw vulnerability and latch on and drain me literally of everything that I had, from emotional well-being to my physical well-being to my bank account and that was the ebb and flow for almost three years until I met Melissa,' he continued, referencing his wife Melissa Cohen. Cohen and Biden had a whirlwind romance in 2019, marrying shortly after they met, with the South African filmmaker helping him get sober. Prior to that, Biden recalled a particularly scary moment when he was found in a hotel swimming pool floating face down. 'Someone had given me something,' he recalled. 'And this person saved me and I woke up after about 12 hours where they just held me.' 'My whole point of this story is that this person put themselves at an enormous risk,' he continued, explaining that if he had overdosed and died, the individual could have been blamed. 'They saved my life for nothing other than to be human, because every single other person that was there, literally, they stole my shoes, they stole my clothes,' the former first son recalled.
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Hunter Biden says Joe's use of Ambien fueled his disastrous Trump debate as he explains how to COOK crack in wild interview
Hunter Biden blamed the sleep aid Ambien for his father's disastrous presidential debate performance, which became a turning point in the 2024 campaign. The younger Biden sat down for a three-hour-long interview with YouTuber Andrew Callaghan, which was released Monday - the anniversary of former President Biden's decision to quit his reelection campaign and endorse his Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden also talked extensively about his own drug use in the sit-down, including how he learned how to make his own crack cocaine. 'I know exactly what happened in that debate,' Biden said. 'He flew around the world. He's 81 years old. He's tired. They gave him Ambien to be able to sleep and he gets up on the stage and looks like a deer in the headlights.' The then president blamed his lousy June 27, 2024 performance on a cold, though had spent several days at Camp David resting up ahead of the Atlanta showdown with now President Donald Trump. It wasn't enough to quiet the calls for him to drop out. The former first son remained bitter about what happened to his father, though told Callaghan he was able to remain sober the whole time. Biden said he was just over six years sober after spending about three years, after the 2015 death of his brother Beau, in the pits of addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine. 'This is like a PSA - if you want to completely, utterly f*** up your life,' Biden said, crack cocaine would do the job. 'The only difference between crack cocaine and cocaine is sodium bicarbonate and water and heat,' he explained. 'You can go to a your neighborhood convenience store and just get - anyway, I don't want to tell people how to make, how to make crack cocaine, but it literally is a mayonnaise jar of cocaine and baking soda.' Biden said the high is extremely intense on crack cocaine. 'It's vastly, vastly different,' the recovering addict admitted. 'I feel really reluctant to kind of have some euphoric discussion, I know you're not asking me to do that, have some euphoric discussion about crack cocaine,' he continued, with Callaghan saying that he was not. 'I don't want to have the experience of some euphoric recall - that's how powerful crack cocaine is,' Biden admitted. The former first son said that crack had a dirty reputation but 'it's the exact opposite.' 'When you make crack, what you're doing is you're burning off all the impurities,' he explained. Biden said his addiction in earnest started in 2016, when he left an alcohol recovery program over a row with staff and found his former dealer 'Bicycles' in a downtown Washington, D.C. park who sold him crack. 'Now there are periods where I would stop. I would try and get help or half try and get help or appease people in my life and say that I was getting help. And so I did a whole host of things to try and pull myself out of it. I did try,' he remembered. 'And people would come in and out of my web and try and help me, and my level of toxicity would drag them down until they would disappear. And then people that would come into my life that were nothing but blood sucking leeches that would literally saw vulnerability and latch on and drain me literally of everything that I had, from emotional well-being to my physical well-being to my bank account and that was the ebb and flow for almost three years until I met Melissa,' he continued, referencing his wife Melissa Cohen. Cohen and Biden had a whirlwind romance in 2019, marrying shortly after they met, with the South African filmmaker helping him get sober. Prior to that, Biden recalled a particularly scary moment when he was found in a hotel swimming pool floating face down. 'Someone had given me something,' he recalled. 'And this person saved me and I woke up after about 12 hours where they just held me.' 'My whole point of this story is that this person put themselves at an enormous risk,' he continued, explaining that if he had overdosed and died, the individual could have been blamed. 'They saved my life for nothing other than to be human, because every single other person that was there, literally, they stole my shoes, they stole my clothes,' the former first son recalled. He added that he thought it was hypocritical that Republicans have used his struggle with addiction to score political points when so many of them have been touched by it too.
Washington Post
17-06-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Senate expected to pass crypto bill without addressing Trump's investments
WASHINGTON — The Senate is expected to approve legislation Tuesday that would regulate a form of cryptocurrency known as stablecoins, the first of what is expected to be a wave of crypto legislation from Congress that the industry hopes will bolster its legitimacy and reassure consumers. The fast-moving legislation, which will be sent to the House for potential revisions, comes on the heels of a 2024 campaign cycle where the crypto industry ranked among the top political spenders in the country, underscoring its growing influence in Washington and beyond.
South China Morning Post
01-06-2025
- General
- South China Morning Post
Elon Musk denies taking ketamine and other drugs on Trump's campaign trail
Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the 2024 campaign trail. The New York Times reported on Friday that the billionaire adviser to President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anaesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world's richest person also took Ecstasy and mushrooms and travelled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) after Trump took power in January. In a post on Saturday on X, Musk said: 'To be clear, I am NOT taking drugs! The New York Times was lying their a** off.' He added: 'I tried 'prescription' ketamine a few years ago and said so on X, so this not even news. It helps for getting out of dark mental holes, but haven't taken it since then.' Musk first dodged a question about his drug use at a bizarre farewell appearance on Friday with Trump in the Oval Office in which the Tesla and SpaceX boss sported a noticeable black eye as he formally ended his role as Trump's main cost-cutter at Doge, which fired tens of thousands of civil servants.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump says he wasn't aware of Musk reportedly using drugs during the 2024 campaign
President Donald Trump said he is not aware of Elon Musk regularly using drugs, responding to a media report on the billionaires' alleged drug use during the 2024 presidential campaign. The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that Musk frequently used drugs such as ketamine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms while campaigning with Trump in 2024. The paper said it was unclear whether Musk used drugs while working for Trump in the Department of Government Efficiency. Trump spoke to reporters May 30 after returning from a rally in Pennsylvania. He denied any knowledge of drug use by Musk and called him "fantastic." Asked if he was troubled by the report, Trump said: "I'm not troubled by anything with Elon." A reporter tried to ask Musk during an Oval Office event May 30 about his alleged drug use during the 2024 campaign. But Musk dodged the question and criticized the New York Times' reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election. "Let's move on," Musk said, standing behind the president at the Resolute Desk. More: Musk leaves D.C. with black eye: 5 takeaways from Oval Office sendoff with Trump Musk is the CEO of car maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, and he owns social-media platform X. He acknowledged in March 2024 that he used prescription ketamine to combat bouts of depression. He worried corporate executives by smoking marijuana during a podcast in 2018. Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says he's not aware of Elon Musk's reported drug use
