Flashback: Biden challenged to take pre-debate drug test in 2024; his son now makes Ambien claim
Biden campaign previously dismissed drug test challenge as 'desperate, obviously false lies' before debate disaster
By Emma Colton Fox News
Published July 22, 2025 4:32pm EDT
Former President Joe Biden's campaign dodged answering whether the president planned to take performance-enhancing drugs ahead of his debate against President Donald Trump just over a year ago, instead arguing that Trump and his campaign were spreading "desperate, obviously false lies" about the 46th president potentially taking drugs.
About one year after Biden's ill-fated debate, former first son Hunter Biden claimed in a wild and expansive interview published Monday his dad's poor debate performance was due to taking Ambien, a sedative-hypnotic typically used to treat insomnia.
"I know exactly what happened in that debate," Hunter Biden said in the interview. "He flew around the world, basically, 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 the stage, and he looks like he's a deer in the headlights," Hunter added. "And it feeds into every f---ing story that anybody wants to tell."
On June 26, 2024, the day before the debate, Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign inquiring if Biden had any plans to use performance-enhancing drugs for the debate, but staffers twice avoided a direct answer to the question.
At the time, Trump was leading a rising chorus, which included lawmakers, demanding that Biden take a drug test before the showdown. Those advocating a screening suggested Biden may have been motivated by a desire to quell mounting concerns about his mental acuity.
"Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies," a Biden campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital the evening ahead of that 2024 debate.
When asked in a follow-up email for a "yes" or "no" response, the spokesperson said the original statement answered the question.
"The accusation from Trump on drugs is a desperate, obviously false lie," the response said.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-biden-challenged-take-pre-debate-drug-test-2024-his-son-now-makes-ambien-claim
