Book claims that Joe Biden’s collapse was partly caused by anxiety over his son’s fate

Last year’s election saw former President Joe Biden famously end his campaign for a second term and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris.

A new book claims that Biden’s collapse was partly due to the distress caused by his son’s devastating legal problems. 

“The only thing I care about is that my son is not convicted”

According to The Independent, that assertion was put forward in “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.”

The book was authored by three individuals: Wall Street Journal contributor Josh Dawsey, New York Times contributor Tyler Pager, and Washington Post contributor Isaac Arnsdorf.

Biden ‘only cared’ about Hunter avoiding jail’ during his relection bid, book claims https://t.co/bE57d69CXj pic.twitter.com/kedWyS7sCp

— The Independent (@Independent) July 4, 2025

They allege that the former president at one point told a close friend, “The only thing I care about is that my son is not convicted.”

That comment was allegedly made as Hunter Biden was on trial for federal gun charges, with a jury convicting him in June of 2024. Joe Biden would ultimately pardon his son in December of that year.

Joe Biden did not recognize George Clooney at fundraiser

What’s more, Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf maintained that anxiety over Hunter Biden’s fate exacerbated Joe Biden’s prior struggle with cognitive decline.

The Independent noted how one example of that decline was documented in another book called “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.”

Written by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson, it asserts that Biden did not recognize longtime supporter George Clooney while attending a high-dollar fundraiser in New York.

Clooney was reportedly disturbed by the encounter and it led him to write an op-ed in which he called on the then president to end his candidacy.

Hunter Biden shocked by his father’s debate performance

However, the most glaring evidence of Joe Biden’s decline during his televised debate against President Trump, an event which Tapper helped to moderate.

Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf stated in their book that Hunter Biden was left shocked by his father’s performance, writing, “Hunter watched the debate from his home in Los Angeles, and his reaction was ‘What the f–k?.'”

“He had never seen his father so out of it, and worried about his well-being. A few days later, when Hunter arrived at Camp David for a visit, he told his father, ‘I love you’ and ‘Get some sleep,'” the book added.

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