Hunter Biden has aimed at President Donald Trump over his secret departure from Turkey last month, contrasting the episode with his father Joe Biden’s covert 2023 trip to Kyiv during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In a video circulating on social media, Hunter Biden praised his father’s decision to travel to Kyiv at age 80, describing the journey as a dangerous presidential trip into an active war zone. He then mocked Trump’s use of an airport catering truck to secretly leave Air Force One during a trip to Turkey.
“My dad at 81 years old secretly got on a military aircraft, went to Ukraine, took a train for 16 hours to Kyiv as the first President of the United States to go into an active war zone. Donald Trump fits his fat ass into a food cart truck and brings his work wife with him instead of the guy that carries the nuclear codes,” Hunter Biden said.
The remarks were shared by X user Reggie B. in a post that has drawn significant attention online. Multiple social media accounts have reposted the video and the comments.
The comparison refers to two very different presidential security operations.
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Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Kyiv in February 2023, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit a war zone where American troops were not providing security. Biden secretly traveled aboard an Air Force C-32 to Poland before taking a roughly 10-hour overnight train journey into Kyiv.
The trip had been planned for months and involved a tightly controlled group of White House, intelligence, military and Secret Service personnel. The United States also notified Russia about Biden’s travel shortly before his departure as a precaution against a potential military miscalculation.
Trump’s 2026 operation involved a different security concern.
According to The Washington Post, an Iranian assassination threat prompted an elaborate plan to move Trump secretly from Turkey to a smaller military aircraft. Trump had publicly appeared to board Air Force One after the NATO summit in Ankara, but he and several aides instead used an airport catering truck to move from the presidential aircraft to a C-32A.
The operation was reportedly conducted without the knowledge of some White House staff and journalists who remained aboard the larger aircraft.
The Washington Post reported that Trump was accompanied by several close aides, including Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp and Oval Office operations director Walt Nauta. No Cabinet officials were on the catering truck, according to a U.S. official cited by the newspaper.
ABC News separately reported that the unusual maneuver was part of an effort to conceal Trump’s flight from Turkey to the United Kingdom because of threats to his life.
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Hunter Biden’s comments have turned the unusual security operation into a political comparison between the two presidents’ approaches to traveling under security threats.
While Biden’s 2023 journey involved a lengthy covert trip by aircraft, motorcade and train into Kyiv, Trump’s 2026 departure involved a short transfer through an airport catering vehicle before he boarded another military aircraft.
The contrasting episodes have since become fodder for political commentary online, with supporters and critics of both presidents debating what the two trips say about presidential leadership, security and public image.