Hunter Biden has identified what he sees as the most significant misstep of his father’s presidency.
Over the course of Joe Biden’s long political career and time in the White House, he was met with criticism from all sides.
Conservatives often zeroed in on his immigration stance and domestic agenda, while many progressives took issue with his foreign policy and more centrist positions. Elsewhere, a wider section of voters became increasingly uneasy about financial pressures and his age.
The comments came during a July 2026 appearance on the I’ve Had It podcast, in which Hunter Biden was asked to reflect on the biggest mistake of his father’s time in office.
When asked to point to the biggest error of the administration, Hunter singled out his father’s decision to appoint Merrick Garland as attorney general.
He described it as his dad’s ‘greatest mistake’.
Speaking on the I’ve Had It podcast, hosted by Jennifer Welch, Hunter said:
“The single greatest mistake of my father’s administration was the leadership of Merrick Garland. “The buck has to stop with my dad. He was the president; he chose him.”
Garland has frequently been criticised by those who believed he moved too slowly in investigating Donald Trump’s involvement in the January 6 Capitol attack.
In November 2022, Garland appointed former federal prosecutor Jack Smith as special counsel to oversee two criminal investigations involving Trump: one into the handling of classified records and another into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Smith ultimately brought charges in both cases, but the legal battles that followed stretched into 2024 and 2025, and both federal prosecutions were later dismissed.
His delayed decision to appoint Special Counsel Jack Smith, along with his defence of executive privilege that resulted in a contempt of Congress vote, sparked criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
Hunter continued:
“I guarantee you there was a division between church and state there.
“But if Merrick Garland had started a completely, 100% legitimate investigation rather than thinking, ‘Let’s not fan the flames’ – like, what the…? Did you not watch what I watched?
“Did you not see the people storming the Capitol of the United States of America? Beating cops and running congressmen and senators literally out of the building?
“You didn’t see a president and know that it was a concerted and planned effort on their part beginning all the way back from the day before the election.”
Hunter Biden also argued that Garland knew the Capitol riot ‘were a planned conspiracy’ involving ‘full of actors all working inside and outside of the White House’ at “all levels” of government.
According to Hunter, Garland’s lack of urgency meant the chance for meaningful prosecutions slipped away as officials waited for Congress to handle the matter first.
He added:
“An entire series of hearings lays it all out, and then we still don’t go after him. We don’t end up going after him.”
Hunter said he still ‘couldn’t understand’ Garland’s choices.
Garland later appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to lead the federal investigations into Trump’s handling of classified records and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election result.
Although Smith brought charges in both investigations, the cases were later dismissed.
The White House and Merrick Garland have been approached for comment.