It was something of the political hall of mirrors: Hunter Biden arriving at Candace Owens’ house, sitting in a room full of books decorated with a cross and orchids in the shape of a heart, holding a coffee cup with an inscription. conspiracy expertand answered several questions from a podcast host who called him an “alleged sex offender” and a “SOMEONE SHOULD BE IN JAIL” who comes from a “SCUM family.” The first question: “The cocaine found in the White House, was it yours?”
To say this was an unusual pairing is an understatement. To claim it was Frost/Nixon is an exaggeration. But it said something about modern politics—and online cultural sophistication—that the son of a former Democratic president and a right-wing journalist were sitting together, talking for nearly two hours, finding common ground for being misunderstood, targeted by a powerful president, and questioning the circumstances of Charlie Kirk’s death and whether Donald Trump’s assassination attempts were made against Donald Trump.
Owens apologized for treating Biden as a “puppet” and joining the “political machine” that preyed on him at the lowest point of his life (“I’m so sorry that I contributed to that. Like, I feel so dirty”). He lavished praise on him (“You’re probably the best communicator I’ve ever heard behind a microphone”). He encouraged her to spend time in confession (“Don’t worry,” he replied, “I’ve gone to confession”), and suggested bitterly that they go to see Pope Leo 14 together: “In fact, let’s go to the Vatican.” Biden offered book recommendations (“Have you ever read The Devil’s Chessboard?”), and Owens praised his intelligence (“Don’t be rude, but I thought you were dumb”).
Much of the conversation focused on Biden’s rescue story, the human details of which Owens seemed oblivious. “I didn’t even think about it: He’s delusional. That’s actually very relatable,” he once said. (Never mind that in December 2024 he gave a segment on President Biden pardoning his son, in which he mentioned “crack” more than two dozen times in about 20 minutes.) For anyone who has read Hunter Biden’s 2021 memoir, followed his federal court proceedings, or listened to him in previous interviews, there were a lot of addiction issues that have been known for a long time: a big part of his adult life. A relative who grew stronger after his brother died. The guy who looked at the compromising photos, his private messages, and more than a decade of emails turned into public fodder and hampered his father’s campaign and presidency. “It forced me to choose,” he said. “And the choice was: Do I get out of bed and live, or do I die? And it became very different. And I chose to live, and it was not easy.”
Biden has spent years living under Republican attacks. Owens himself led many of them as well as other hard-right adaptations. Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene once, during a congressional session, held up explicit photos of Biden engaging in sexual acts. However, earlier this week, Greene wrote on social media, “I am very impressed with this interview. This is what real journalism looks like and where the underground politics of America is moving.” Both Owens and Greene have been repeatedly criticized for making anti-Semitic comments, downplaying the Holocaust, and playing on anti-Semitic tropes.
The most revealing moment came at the end, when Biden recounted the attacks he faced. “They tore all my clothes, put tar on me and put feathers on me, and put me in the middle of the city, and said, ‘Look at him.’ And I survived,” he said. Owens locked eyes with her and apologized several times. “Actually, I’m very sorry,” he said. “I participated in the brutality of justice Look at this man in the worst time of his life, with prostitutes. He uses crack, he uses drugs, and we have to make fun of him.” Biden began to cry, wiping his eyes. “For you to say that to me, I mean, just from a selfish perspective, it means the world. And I really didn’t come here for that.”
But why was he there? Why did he reactivate his account on X recently? And what’s next for the man many Republicans have grown to hate and many Democrats hoped would disappear?
I they have found out Hunter Biden has done very well in the last few years. I spent several months in 2021 analyzing a copy of his hard drive—a laptop product that he allegedly threw away at a computer repair shop and never recovered—and I learned more about him than I cared to. The study produced several stories about his commercial activitiesabout his relationship with Tucker Carlsonand how he to benefit from his surname.
I also wrote about Biden’s attempts to become an artist, as well ethical issues His expectations given in the White House and congressional investigation the next one. That may all seem familiar now. For some time, Biden has harbored private anger at the Trump family and their business dealings that involve more money with foreign countries, create more conflicts of interest—and get far less scrutiny. The anger erupted in an interview with Owens.
“I had two shows and probably sold a total of 20 paintings,” he said. “And you had a problem – didn’t you; and you too – you had a problem with me being this emblem of corruption?” Owens agreed, and said he will forever distance himself from the Trump family and now sees their business dealings on a completely different level of corruption. “I wish I could go back to the days when I thought, like, Hunter Biden’s art was the worst deal ever done in politics,” he replied.
Owens largely glossed over the subject of Joe Biden, explaining that it would be “absolutely demonic” to try to get Hunter to say anything negative about his father. Not that he could. He sees himself as a defender of Biden’s legacy at a time when many Democrats have mocked the former president for deciding to run for president again. But Owens tried to get him to talk about Kamala Harris, who replaced her father on the ticket. Biden lashed out, saying that he didn’t know her well and that he was always nice to her. “I’m not avoiding the question,” Biden said, “but I don’t want to blame the vice president.”
This free interview it also provided a window into what I’ve long seen as Biden’s willingness to entertain ideas that might seem far-fetched, his deep suspicion of certain parts of the federal government, and concerns about retaliation by the current administration.
Although his father offered him a generous apology for crimes committed in the past, Biden expressed concern about being framed or targeted by Trump in the future. Before boarding the plane, he said that he had a witness watching him pack his bags, fearing that someone might plant drugs. Judging by his record, he said, no one can believe that he is clean and sober.
At one point, Biden asked to keep one of Owens’ trademark coffee mugs (the ones with the Conspiracy expert above them), and both suggested that assassination attempts against Trump and the assassination of Kirk, a close friend of Owens, could be carried out. They have every right, the couple agreed, to question whether they were. “It’s like they’re just saying, like, eff you,” Biden said of those who ignore their questions.
“It’s so insulting that we don’t even get good psyops anymore,” Owens replied. “Like, we’re supposed to believe that he’s survived four — what are we at, four assassination attempts? The first president to survive four assassination attempts? They’re lying to us about things.”
The two also think something else has changed. “There is evil. The willingness to use un-American tactics against our adversaries because it has become a zero-sum game,” Biden said. “Not only, I don’t agree with you. is, You need to be punished. You need to be punished for what you believe.”
As for Owens’ first question about the cocaine found in the White House in July 2023—which, at the time, sparked his conspiracy theories—Biden said it certainly wasn’t his. He’s been sober, he said, since June 1, 2019. “I’m an easy target. And understandably so. I’ve been, I think, probably the most famous addict — and the most famous person, because of the grace of God, in recovery.”
