Hunter Biden was furious with former President Barack Obama for leading then-President Joe Biden offstage with a guiding hand at a June 2024 fundraiser, according to a new book from ABC News’ Jonathan Karl.
An excerpt from the book, obtained by Axios, details how the younger Biden believed Obama had disrespected and embarrassed the president.
‘I almost jumped up on the stage and said, ‘Don’t ever f–king do that to the president of the United States again — ever,” Hunter told Karl in an interview.
‘The younger Biden insisted his dad was simply taking some time to acknowledge the crowd. ‘I knew that that was going to be a meme,’ Hunter recalled. ‘That really, really, really, really pissed me off,” the book reads.
The incident was one of many that contributed to criticism that Biden was too old to hold office, an opinion held by the vast majority of voters, according to polls from the time.
The clip was just one of many in the latter months of Biden’s presidency that showed an ally, aide or family member stepping in to seemingly direct or guide Biden off a stage or during an event.
The Obama incident came just days after Biden had to be redirected by another world leader during a G7 event in Italy. The former president was arrayed with other world leaders as he appeared to wander a few steps away from the group.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni then walked over to the president, touched his right arm and redirected him back to the group of world leaders.
The White House at the time dismissed the clip for having an ‘artificially narrow frame’ that only made it seem as though Biden was walking away from the crowd.
Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.
