Biden made the remark during an interview with CNN, when the president was asked to comment about an Oct. 6 article by The Washington Post, which cited anonymous sources who said that federal agents had "determined months ago" that they had put together a viable criminal case against Hunter Biden.

"Personally and politically, how do you react to that?" CNN host Jake Tapper asked Biden.

"Well, first of all, I'm proud of my son," Biden said in response. "This is a kid who got, not a kid—he's a grown man. He got hooked on—like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He's overcome that. He's established a new life."

Biden added that he is "confident" that what his son "says and does are consistent with what happens." To provide an example, he pointed to his son's memoir "Beautiful Things" and said Hunter Biden was "straightforward" in his book.

The president defended his son over allegations that Hunter Biden lied on a background check before buying a handgun in October 2018.

"This thing about a gun—I didn't know anything about it," Biden said. "But turns out that when he made application to purchase a gun, what happened was … you get asked a question, are you on drugs, or do use drugs? He said no. And he wrote about saying no in his book."

According to the Post, Biden answered "no" to the question of whether he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?" The question appears on the Firearms Transaction Record (Form 4473), a six-page form (pdf) prescribed by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that needs to be filled out when people buy a firearm.