Hunter Biden flatly denied that a bag of cocaine discovered near the White House Situation Room in July 2023 belonged to him, telling podcaster Candace Owens on Thursday that he was nowhere near the building when the Secret Service found the dime-sized baggie. The denial comes nearly two years after the Biden administration closed the matter without identifying who brought the drug into one of the most secure buildings on earth, and months after the FBI quietly reopened the case.
Asked directly whether the cocaine was his, the former first son gave a one-word answer: "No." He then offered an extended explanation, as the New York Post reported, pointing to his sobriety, his physical absence from the White House that weekend, and the building's heavy foot traffic from staffers and visitors.
The interview marks the most detailed public statement Hunter Biden has made about the episode, one that embarrassed the Biden White House and raised questions about whether the investigation was handled with the same rigor that would apply to anyone else.
Hunter Biden told Owens he has been "clean and sober" since June 1, 2019. He pointed to random drug testing he said he underwent "over the course of two years" while his federal gun and tax trials played out as proof of that claim.
"Verifiably so, by the way."
He then turned to the question of proximity. The Secret Service found the baggie on Sunday night, July 2, 2023. At the time, former President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and other members of the first family were at Camp David in Maryland. Reporters had spotted Hunter Biden at the White House the Friday before the discovery, when the family departed Washington for the Maryland retreat.
Hunter Biden described the location where the cocaine was found, a cubby just outside the Situation Room, as a high-traffic corridor used by visitors and staff moving between the Old Executive Office Building and the West Wing.
"People have to understand... where that cocaine was found... that is where visitors come in and, and they come over from the old executive office building, staff, to go to the, go to the Oval [Office] or go to the chief of staff office or to the offices in the West Wing, and it was found in a cubby, right outside of the Situation Room, and it's like, no possibility, not even remotely, beyond the fact that I wasn't even there."
He suggested a White House visitor or Biden administration staffer was the more likely source. He also downplayed his overall presence in the building, estimating he spent "maybe 25 days at the White House" over four years, "Like 25 nights. Thirty, if, you know, I'm being fair."
The Biden administration never determined who left the cocaine in one of the most surveilled complexes in the country. That fact alone should trouble anyone who expects the government to hold itself to the same standards it imposes on the rest of us. Cocaine possession is a federal crime. The White House sits inside a security perimeter designed to track every person who enters and exits. And yet the investigation simply ended without an answer.
Hunter Biden's well-documented history with addiction made him an obvious suspect in the public's mind. He has acknowledged getting hooked on crack cocaine after his brother's death in 2015. He called himself an "easy target... understandably so" and described himself as "probably the most famous addict" in recovery for substance abuse.
That history does not make him guilty of leaving cocaine in the White House. But it does explain why the public expected a thorough, transparent investigation, and why the Biden administration's failure to produce one fed suspicion rather than quelling it.
The broader pattern of legal protection around Hunter Biden only deepens the skepticism. His father issued him a blanket pardon covering any crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024, a sweeping grant of clemency that effectively shielded him from prosecution for conduct spanning a full decade.
The FBI reopened the White House cocaine case in 2025 under the Trump administration. No arrests have been made. The reopening signals that at least some officials believe the original probe was incomplete, though details about the scope or status of the new investigation remain scarce.
Hunter Biden's denial, meanwhile, raises as many questions as it answers. His claim that he was at Camp David when the cocaine was found on July 2 is consistent with public reporting at the time. But he was photographed at the White House just two days earlier. And his estimate of spending only 25 to 30 nights at the White House over four years is a self-reported figure that no independent source has confirmed or denied.
The interview with Owens is part of a broader public-facing effort by Hunter Biden, who has recently criticized Democratic leaders in Congress and positioned himself as something of a freelance political commentator. Whether that effort rehabilitates his image or simply keeps him in the spotlight remains to be seen.
Hunter Biden's sobriety claim, if true, would be a meaningful point in his favor. Random drug testing tied to federal court proceedings is not easy to fake. But the claim sits alongside years of conduct that gave the public every reason to doubt his word, from the laptop he initially denied was his, to the gun charge tied to a federal form on which he denied drug use, to the tax case that ended in a plea deal and then a pardon.
Court filings have since revealed that Hunter Biden now lives overseas, with a former law firm suing him over unpaid legal fees. Separate reporting indicates he claims $17 million in debt. The picture is one of a man whose legal and financial entanglements continue to multiply even as he insists the worst is behind him.
None of that proves the White House cocaine was his. But it illustrates why Hunter Biden's word alone is not enough to close the book on an episode the government itself failed to resolve.
The real question was never just about a dime-sized bag. It was about whether the rules apply equally when the president's son is the most obvious suspect. The Biden administration answered that question by not answering it at all. Now the FBI has a second chance, and the public deserves an actual result this time.
When cocaine turns up in the most secure building in America and nobody can say whose it was, the problem isn't a lack of evidence. It's a lack of will.