Biden defends Hunter pardon, saying Trump goes after people ‘without any basis’
Former President Joe Biden says he did not know he had cancer while he was in office, and says he would not have run for reelection in 2024 if he had already been diagnosed. Biden made the remarks in an interview with People magazine ahead of the Tuesday release of his White House memoir.
“If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer,” Biden said, “I would’ve not gone forward” with a 2024 reelection bid. Biden, who turns 84 on Nov. 20, was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer months after leaving office in 2025.
“I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running” for president, Biden said.
Biden argued that his June 2024 debate against Trump — held less than five months before Election Day, when Biden was 81 — was not a seismic event, even though it accelerated Democrats’ concerns about his age and his ability to defeat Trump. “First of all, I thought there’d be another debate, which there wasn’t,” Biden said. “But notwithstanding the fact that there wasn’t another debate, it didn’t disturb me because it wasn’t consequential.”
Within weeks of the debate, Biden announced he was ending his campaign and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris. Harris secured the nomination and lost to Trump in the general election.
Biden insisted he was able to perform his duties while he was in office. He said age itself was not disqualifying and meant he had experience and deep personal relationships with world leaders. “I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job,” Biden said.
Hunter Biden told the BBC in August that his father’s cancer had spread and was causing him pain. “It’s very painful and it’s very debilitating in many respects,” Hunter Biden said.
Since Joe Biden left office, Hunter Biden has become a higher-profile public presence, sparring with Republicans on social media, posting lengthy thoughts on the nation’s direction and launching his own cryptocurrency. Joe Biden defended his son’s public persona and his decision to pardon Hunter Biden after the younger Biden’s 2024 conviction on federal felony gun charges and his guilty plea to federal tax charges. Hunter Biden had faced years of scrutiny and Republican attacks over his international business dealings.
Hunter Biden has said the pardon damaged his father’s legacy, but the former president said Trump’s penchant for vengeance made it necessary. “He goes after people without any basis, whether they’re viewed as an enemy. I knew what he would do,” Biden said. “If I hadn’t pardoned — not just some of my family members, anyone who’s dealt with me — he would go back and try to do harm to them.”
Biden called his son “one of the brightest men I know,” adding, “I’m really proud of him.”