Hunter Biden said Democrats lost the 2024 presidential election because they "did not remain loyal" to his father, former President Joe Biden, according to excerpts of an interview released Wednesday from a new podcast hosted by former Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison. The remarks, Hunter Biden’s first public comments since the election, will air in full on Thursday on Harrison’s “At Our Table.” “We had the advantage of incumbency, we had the advantage of an incredibly successful administration, and the Democratic Party literally melted down,” the younger Biden said. He contended that internal divisions, rather than his father’s performance or his own legal troubles, opened the door for Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Hunter Biden also rejected assertions that party officials hid the extent of Joe Biden’s physical or cognitive decline, calling talk of a cover-up “conspiracy” fodder. He dismissed claims he acted as an unelected adviser, saying he spent only a dozen days inside the White House over the final two years of his father’s term. Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 race weeks after a faltering debate, and Vice President Kamala Harris went on to lose to Trump in November. The former president pardoned his son in December 2024 for federal tax and firearm offenses, a move that drew criticism from Republicans and some Democrats. Hunter Biden’s latest comments are likely to reignite debate within the party over the 2024 defeat and its path forward.