Latest news with #AtOurTable
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Chuck Todd blasts podcasters for platforming Hunter Biden, ‘spectacle' hurting Democrats
Former NBC News anchor Chuck Todd condemned media outlets for platforming former President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, arguing he is a hazard to himself and the Democratic Party. As Democrats struggle to chart a new course after their defeat in the 2024 election, the one thing many can agree on is that the Bidens should step away from public life. Advertisement Hunter Biden was in the news again after he spoke on Andrew Callaghan's 'Channel 5' podcast last weekend and Monday's episode of former DNC chair Jaime Harrison's 'At Our Table' podcast, making headlines for wild tirades defending his father and blasting his critics. Todd responded on his own podcast by declaring, 'I will never book Hunter Biden,' and explained why. 'Number one, he's not the candidate. He wasn't on the ballot. Anything he says in defense of his father, I don't know whether it's true or not, but it doesn't matter. He's a son defending his father,' he said. Todd reserved his full ire for those who platform Hunter, saying, 'I have a real problem with the folks that are booking him. If you've chosen to book Hunter Biden, you've chosen to book spectacle. You're not interested in – and you know, the two interviews that have gone viral were both designed to get attention, not to surface new facts, not to give you a better understanding of what may have happened. It was just, 'Let's give him a platform to settle some scores that maybe he wants to settle.'' 3 Chuck Todd condemned media outlets for platforming Hunter Biden. The Chuck ToddCast / YouTube Advertisement He continued, 'I don't think this does Hunter Biden any good. I don't think this does Joe Biden any good. It certainly doesn't do the Democratic Party any good. That's why it's surprising to see the former DNC chair start a podcast and decide that the best way to market it is Hunter Biden.' 'It's a choice who you book,' he argued. 'I make choices. Everybody makes choices. It's a choice who you book. If you're putting Hunter Biden on, you know what you're doing. Look, I think there's a lot of things going on there.' 3 Hunter Biden recently went on the 'Channel 5' podcast to defend his father and blast his critics. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images 'I don't like it when politicians use the media or campaigns or voters for their own therapy.' Todd added he's a big advocate of going to therapy, 'but let's not do it in public. Try to deal with your issues amongst yourself.' Advertisement 'This is ultimately why I was critical of Joe and Joe Biden for running in the first place, because their family wasn't ready for this,' he added. 'And I think Hunter Biden's behavior now post-election is more proof the family wasn't in a position… this is why running for president can do major damage to a candidate's family.' 3 Both Hunter Biden and his father have been criticized for remaining in the public eye after the Democratic Party's defeat in November. AFP via Getty Images After surviving the death of his first wife and daughter in 1972, the death of his eldest son Beau in 2015 hit Biden very hard and Todd argued the family didn't take enough time to grieve and recover from it before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign. Advertisement In the past, the Bidens seemed to be 'the poster child' of balancing public service and supporting one's family to Todd. 'But that was a family in crisis internally,' he said. Fox News Digital reached out to the 'Channel 5' podcast, the 'At Our Table' podcast, representatives of Joe Biden, and the legal representation of Hunter Biden, and did not receive an immediate reply.
Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Democrats, Obama aides, and George Clooney: Hunter Biden's profanity-laced interview on father's career
Hunter Biden, recently pardoned by his father, former President Joe Biden, for criminal charges in California and Delaware, has unleashed a scathing attack on prominent Democrats and media figures, blaming them for his father's 2024 election loss. In two fiery podcast appearances, Biden took aim at party insiders, accusing them of disloyalty and undermining his father's presidency. Over the course of more than four hours across both shows, Biden delivered a profane and deeply personal reckoning with the Democratic Party, accusing a long list of prominent liberals, including campaign veterans, media personalities, and Hollywood figures, of betraying his father and, in doing so, helping elect Donald Trump. On the debut episode of At Our Table with Jaime Harrison, hosted by the former Democratic National Committee chairman, Biden argued that Democrats' failure to stand by his father cost them the election. On Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, a popular YouTube show known for its unfiltered interviews, Biden went further. He called out senior Biden aide Anita Dunn, claiming she 'made $40 to $50 million' from the Democratic Party. He dismissed Democratic strategists David Axelrod and James Carville, saying Axelrod's only success was 'because of Barack Obama' and Carville 'hasn't run a race in 40 years.' He also slammed the former Obama aides behind Crooked Media's Pod Save America as 'four white millionaires' profiting off their past association with Obama. Even actor George Clooney, who publicly criticised Biden's campaign, was reduced to 'a brand' that didn't resonate with middle America. Journalist Jake Tapper was perhaps his most bitter target ''What influence does Jake Tapper have over anything? He has the smallest audience on cable news,' Biden said. In one breathless minute, he used variations of the f-word 13 times. Most of those he criticised declined to engage. 'Never have the words 'no comment' been more appropriate,' Axelrod said. Biden also offered his version of what went wrong in the final stretch of the campaign, saying his father had been given the sleep aide Ambien before his disastrous debate performance in an attempt to help him sleep after a gruelling travel schedule. 'He's 81 years old, he's tired,' Hunter said. 'They give him Ambien to be able to sleep and he gets up on the stage and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights.' Hunter also denied longstanding right-wing allegations that he had brought cocaine into the White House in 2023, a claim revived earlier this year when the FBI reopened an investigation. 'I have been clean and sober since June of 2019. I have not touched a drop of alcohol or a drug, and I'm incredibly proud of that,' he said. 'Why would I bring cocaine into the White House and stick it into a cubby outside of the situation room in the West Wing?' President Trump had publicly speculated the cocaine could belong to 'either Joe or Hunter,' though offered no proof. Biden's public reemergence follows a year of personal and political crisis. He was convicted on three felony charges related to a 2018 gun purchase, and his father's pardon—issued just weeks before leaving office—triggered an outcry from Republicans and muted discomfort from some Democrats. While the White House maintained the pardon was a private family decision, critics pointed to it as an example of elite impunity. But Hunter Biden, in these interviews, showed no sign of retreat. If anything, he seemed emboldened—less the president's troubled son and more a man with a hit list, an unrepentant voice in a party he believes lost its way.
Axios
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
5 key quotes from Hunter Biden's first post-election interviews
Hunter Biden defended his father, former President Biden, in a pair of interviews released on Monday. The big picture: In his first interviews since the 2024 election, Hunter Biden denied President Trump's insinuation that he used cocaine in the White House and said the Democratic Party's response to his father's infamous presidential debate performance last summer was overblown. Why it matters: The debate was a watershed moment for the 2024 presidential election, leading to the the former president's withdrawal from the race and an unsuccessful late-bid from former Vice President Harris. Joe Biden's performance against then-Republican nominee Donald Trump confirmed Democrats' worst fears about his age and capacity to lead. Hunter Biden, who was pardoned by his father for criminal charges in California and Delaware, denounced criticism of the former president in episodes of"At Our Table with Jaime Harrison," and "Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan." Here are the key quotes: Jake Tapper Hunter Biden responded to CNN anchor Jake Tapper's comments earlier this year that Hunter Biden had outsize influence in his father's White House. Flashback: "I think Hunter was driving the decision-making for the family," Tapper had said in May while promoting a book he co-wrote with Axios' Alex Thompson. "He was almost like a chief of staff." What he's saying: "You think Jake Tapper was telling the truth when he said I was the acting chief of staff," Hunter Biden told Harrison. "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…. I stayed as far away as I possibly could — which, by the way, broke my heart." Joe Biden had repeatedly offered to testify in Hunter's trial on federal gun charges in Delaware last June, Tapper and Thompson reported in their book, " Original Sin." George Clooney Hunter Biden criticized actor George Clooney, one of the first major voices to call for Joe Biden to step aside from his re-election campaign following the presidential debate. "Do you think in middle America, that voter in Green Bay, Wisconsin, gives a s--t what George Clooney thinks about who she should vote for?" Hunter Biden told Harrison. "He didn't do the right thing. And to say something that is so patently untrue in order to justify what you did afterwards… is cowardly, is weak." Hunter Biden said of Clooney in his interview with Callaghan, a YouTube personality: "F‑‑k him and everybody around him." The Democratic Party's reaction to the debate Hunter Biden said that the Democratic Party "elite" overreacted to his father's debate performance. "That debate was awful," Hunter Biden told Harrison. "But we could have survived if it weren't for the fact that people in the Democratic Party — the inside elite Beltway group of people — were not going to allow it to happen. "We watched Joe Biden turn 80 and 81 and then 82. We watched him get old in front of our eyes... That does not mean that you're incapacitated." He blasted Democratic media personalities, including David Axelrod, James Carville and the hosts of Pod Save America, for their comments on Joe Biden's viability as a candidate during his interview with Callaghan. Ambien Hunter Biden blamed Ambien for his father's debate performance. "He flew around the world, basically the mileage he could have flown around the world three times. He's 81 years old. He's tired as sh--t," he told Callaghan. "They give him Ambien to be able to sleep," he said of the prescription sedative used to treat insomnia. "He gets up on the stage, and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights." Trump's cocaine in the White House probe Hunter Biden denied that a bag of cocaine found in the White House in 2023 was his. "I have been clean and sober since June of 2019. I have not touched a drop of alcohol or a drug, and I'm incredibly proud of that," he told Callaghan. "Why would I bring cocaine into the White House and stick it into a cubby outside of the situation room in the West Wing?" Catch up quick: The FBI announced in May that it was stepping up efforts to investigate the case.
Axios
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Hunter Biden suggests Ambien contributed to father's infamous debate
Hunter Biden suggested in one of his first interviews since the 2024 election that former President Biden 's disastrous presidential debate was partially the result of taking Ambien while traveling. The big picture: The debate marked a turning point that led to Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 election, dropping former Vice President Kamala Harris into the race with less than four months to campaign in an ultimately unsuccessful bid. Then-President Biden's performance against then-GOP nominee Trump exacerbated Democrats' worst fears about his age and capacity to lead. Driving the news: "I know exactly what happened in that debate," Hunter Biden told YouTube personality Andrew Callaghan. "He flew around the world, basically the mileage he could have flown around the world three times. He's 81 years old. He's tired as sh–t," the president's son said. "They give him Ambien to be able to sleep. He gets up on the stage, and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights," he added. Ambien is prescription sedative used to treat insomnia. Zoom out: Hunter Biden, who was pardoned by his father for criminal charges in California and Delaware, did a pair of interviews released Monday, marking his first public comments since the election. In an episode of "At Our Table with Jaime Harrison," with the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, Biden acknowledged his father had aged during his presidency. "We watched Joe Biden turn 80 and 81 and then 82. We watched him get old in front of our eyes," Hunter Biden said. "That does not mean that you're incapacitated." He continued, "How can you measure whether someone is incapacitated or not? What you would do is measure them by the standard of whether they're achieving the goals that they set out to do when they took the job."
The Hill
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Hunter Biden goes off on George Clooney: ‘F— him and everybody around him'
Hunter Biden went off on actor George Clooney and other high-profile Democrats in an expletive-filled response to their calls for his father, former President Biden, to drop out of the 2024 election. Appearing on YouTube personality Andrew Callagan's web series 'Channel 5,' Hunter Biden lashed out at Clooney and other members of the party who publicly criticized the former president after his disastrous debate against President Trump in summer 2024. 'F— him, f— him, f— him and everybody around him,' Hunter Biden said during the interview released Monday, in response to an anecdote about Clooney's political involvement. 'I don't have to be f—— nice. No.1, I agree with Quentin Tarantino…F—— George Clooney is not a f—— actor. He is a f—— , like…I don't know what he is. He is a brand.' Cooney was among the first prominent Democrats to call on former President Biden to drop out, warning in an op-ed in The New York Times last July that the party would lose the election otherwise. Within two weeks, the former president announced he was dropping his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Harris to fill his place. Clooney thanked Biden 'for saving democracy once again' in response and endorsed Harris. The former president's son also lashed out at other high-profile figures in the party. 'What do you have to do with f—— anything? Why do I have to f—— listen to you?' Biden asked. 'What right do you have to step on a man who's given 52 years of his f—— life to service of this country and to decide you, George Clooney, are going to take out basically a full page ad in the f—— New York Times…to me, and James Carville who hasn't run a race in 40 f—— years and David Axelrod who had one success in his political life, and that was Barack Obama and that was because of Barack Obama, not because of f—— David Axelrod and David Plouffe and all of these guys…and the Pod Save America Guys, who were junior f—— speechwriters on Barack Obama's Senate staff who had been dining out on their relationship with him…' Hunter Biden, who was pardoned over multiple federal charges by his father during the last weeks of the former president's administration, has reemerged in public for the first time in months to slam the Democratic Party's handling of the election. He is slated to appear on former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison's new podcast, where he has blamed the Democratic Party's loss on its lack of loyalty to his father. 'You know what, we are going to fight amongst ourselves for the next three years until there's a nominee. And then with the nominee, we better as hell get behind that nominee,' Biden told Harrison on 'At Our Table.' Tommy Vietor, one of the hosts of 'Pod Save America,' responded to Biden's comments in a tweet. 'It's good to see that Hunter has taken some time to process the election, look inward, and hold himself accountable for how his family's insular, dare I say arrogant at times, approach to politics led to this catastrophic outcome we're all now living with,' he wrote.
