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Former NBC News anchor Chuck Todd condemned media outlets for platforming former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, arguing he is a hazard to himself and the Democratic Party.
As Democrats struggle to chart a new course after their defeat in the 2024 election, the one thing many can agree on is that the Bidens should step away from public life.
Hunter Biden was in the news again after he spoke on Andrew Callaghan’s “Channel 5” podcast last weekend and Monday’s episode of former DNC chair Jaime Harrison’s “At Our Table” podcast, making headlines for wild tirades defending his father and blasting his critics.
Todd responded on his own podcast by declaring, “I will never book Hunter Biden,” and explained why. “Number one, he’s not the candidate. He wasn’t on the ballot. Anything he says in defense of his father, I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but it doesn’t matter. He’s a son defending his father,” he said.
BIDEN’S MEDIA BLITZ MET WITH DEMOCRATIC DISDAIN, WISHES HE WOULD ‘GO AWAY’
Both Hunter Biden and his father have been criticized for remaining in the public eye after the Democratic Party’s defeat in November. (Getty images)
Todd reserved his full ire for those who platform Hunter, saying, “I have a real problem with the folks that are booking him. If you’ve chosen to book Hunter Biden, you’ve chosen to book spectacle. You’re not interested in – and you know, the two interviews that have gone viral were both designed to get attention, not to surface new facts, not to give you a better understanding of what may have happened. It was just, ‘Let’s give him a platform to settle some scores that maybe he wants to settle.'”
He continued, “I don’t think this does Hunter Biden any good. I don’t think this does Joe Biden any good. It certainly doesn’t do the Democratic Party any good. That’s why it’s surprising to see the former DNC chair start a podcast and decide that the best way to market it is Hunter Biden.”
“It’s a choice who you book,” he argued. “I make choices. Everybody makes choices. It’s a choice who you book. If you’re putting Hunter Biden on, you know what you’re doing. Look, I think there’s a lot of things going on there.”
Hunter Biden has not been shy at expressing his rage toward prominent liberal actor George Clooney. (Getty Images)
“I don’t like it when politicians use the media or campaigns or voters for their own therapy.” Todd added he’s a big advocate of going to therapy, “but let’s not do it in public. Try to deal with your issues amongst yourself.”
“This is ultimately why I was critical of Joe and Joe Biden for running in the first place, because their family wasn’t ready for this,” he added. “And I think Hunter Biden’s behavior now post-election is more proof the family wasn’t in a position… this is why running for president can do major damage to a candidate’s family.”
After surviving the death of his first wife and daughter in 1972, the death of his eldest son Beau in 2015 hit Biden very hard and Todd argued the family didn’t take enough time to grieve and recover from it before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign.
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Hunter Biden’s controversies were a key vector of criticism for then-President Joe Biden. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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In the past, the Bidens seemed to be “the poster child” of balancing public service and supporting one’s family to Todd. “But that was a family in crisis internally,” he said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the “Channel 5” podcast, the “At Our Table” podcast, representatives of Joe Biden, and the legal representation of Hunter Biden, and did not receive an immediate reply.