President Joe Biden’s embattled son Hunter Biden was “an albatross” around the neck of his father during the 2024 presidential campaign, according to a new book coming soon from Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Dawsey.

Dawsey, during an appearance on Sunday morning’s broadcast of “This Week,” said that Hunter Biden was a “major figure” in Biden’s inner circle during the campaign — and how heavily the first son’s court case had weighed on the president and his family.

WATCH:

Hunter Biden was a “major figure” in former Pres. Biden’s reelection campaign, WSJ reporter Josh Dawsey said regarding the reporting in his new book.

“He would pipe in to calls. He was helping him make campaign decisions. And the president was very concerned about his son.” pic.twitter.com/9LF549RWtx

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) July 6, 2025

Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Dawsey to elaborate on his claims that the president’s son had been a “burden” on him and his campaign.

“You also detail how much of a burden Hunter Biden was on President Biden during his campaign,” Stephanopoulos prompted Dawsey.

“Right, so one of the scenes in the book is that the President has a big month ahead in June of 2024, he has European travel, he has the first debate with Donald Trump, as you saw, it didn’t go so well,” Dawsey began. “But the thing he’s telling his friends he’s plays concerned about is that his son is not convicted in his court case.”

“He even offers to testify for his son,” Dawsey continued. “And he’s talking to folks nonstop around him … about his son, right? And he’s just constantly worried about him, he said the prosecutors are trying to break him, and as you see ultimately he decides to pardon his son.”

But what Dawsey really noticed as he did the research for his book was just how prominent a role Hunter Biden had in his father’s inner circle.

“He would pipe in to calls. He was helping him make campaign decisions. And the president was very concerned about his son,” Dawsey said. “It was one of the things that was an albatross on him as he tried to run for reelection.”

CNN Republican commentator Scott Jennings responded to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s call for a new, independent political party — and he argued that Musk’s efforts were likely to do more harm than good.

Jennings made the point during a panel discussion on CNN’s “State of the Union,” arguing that the kind of party Musk was proposing was likely to divide conservatives and Republicans, leaving the door open for Democrats to win — a possible outcome to which he was opposed.

WATCH:

Scott Jennings’ thoughts on Elon Musk forming a New America Party: “You may be dividing the forces of people who want to save Western civilization to the benefit of the people who don’t.” pic.twitter.com/5EcPn5Xt5T

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 6, 2025

“It’s harder than it looks to start a political party,” Jennings began. “And, you know, we’ll see where they go with it. My humble advice to Elon, who I admire very much, actually, is that you may be dividing the forces of people who want to save Western civilization to the benefit of the people who don’t.”

“And so to the extent that this effort would divide conservatives and Republicans against each other, that wouldn’t be helpful,” he continued. “Because it would leave the country to people who want unfettered immigration, who don’t share your fiscal views, and so on and so forth — so we’ll see where it goes.”

Jennings concluded by touting the broad coalition that propelled President Donald Trump to victory in 2024, saying that he’d prefer to see those people stick together in the days ahead.

“I sort of hope everybody puts the band back together the way they had it in 2024 because when everybody was working together, things worked quite well,” Jennings concluded.

“I’m just curious, if they’re on the side of western civilization, what’s the other side of civilization that people want?” another panelist asked.

“Not western civilization,” Jennings replied. “Terrible. Not American values, not western civilization.”