‘Debilitating’: Hunter Biden speaks out about father Joe Biden’s cancer

What the report says

Hunter Biden, in a BBC Newsnight interview aired Friday, discussed his father Joe Biden’s health, the 2024 debate that sharpened scrutiny of the former president, and the pardon Joe Biden later granted him. Al Jazeera reported that Hunter Biden described his father’s condition as “debilitating” and said the cancer had spread and caused significant pain. The comments followed Joe Biden’s May 2025 disclosure that doctors had found an aggressive prostate cancer that had already reached his bones.

The interview also returned to the June 27, 2024 debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, a moment widely seen as pivotal in the presidential race. Hunter Biden said he was shocked by his father’s performance and suggested that the undiagnosed illness may have affected it. Joe Biden ultimately exited the race about 10 months later, and Trump went on to win the 2024 election.

Al Jazeera also noted that Hunter Biden addressed the controversy surrounding the pardon his father issued in December 2024. Joe Biden had previously promised not to intervene in his son’s legal troubles, but later granted him a full and unconditional pardon covering actions dating back to 2014. Hunter Biden said the decision was easy to criticize and conceded it was not good for the Constitution, the public, or his father’s legacy. The article places the remarks in the broader context of long-running Republican criticism of Hunter Biden’s business dealings and criminal convictions.