OAN Staff Blake Wolf
10:42 AM – Monday, December 2, 2024
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to questions surrounding President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s presidential pardon on Monday, which the president and Jean-Pierre previously claimed would not happen on numerous occasions.
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On Sunday, President Biden issued a “full and unconditional pardon,” exonerating Hunter from all federal crimes that he committed and was charged for over the past decade.
“I have never seen language like this in a pardon document that purports to pardon offenses that have not apparently even been charged, with the exception of the Nixon pardon,” stated former U.S. pardon attorney, Margaret Love. “Even the broadest Trump pardons were specific as to what was being pardoned.”
Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre was soon held to the fire by journalists aboard Air Force One, especially when one reporter asked if previously denying the pardon and then going ahead with it “could be seen as lies,” to the American people.
“One thing the president believes is to always be truthful with the American people,” she asserted, nervously noting that Biden “wrestled with [the decision].”
“The president took an action because of how politically infected these cases were,” Jean-Pierre continued, prompting the press to question Biden’s narrative of the politicization of the legal system.
“Does the president believe now and agree with President-elect Trump that the justice system has been weaponized for political purposes and that it needs root and branch reform?” a reporter asked.
“No. Read the president’s statement. Seriously, read the president’s statement. He said he believes in the Department of Justice. He does. He says it in his statement. He also believes that war politics infected the process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” she responded.
“The system doesn’t get corrupted by politics for people whose name is not Biden?” another reporter asked.
“You’re twisting and misrepresenting what I’m saying. I’m talking about a particular issue right now,” Jean-Pierre responded. “The president took action, and he also believes that they tried to break his son in order to break him. That’s what we saw.”
Jean-Pierre continued, explaining that the departing Democrat president is not demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign, despite Biden claiming that Hunter’s federal charges were “unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.”
Towards the end of her briefing, Jean-Pierre also left the door open for President Biden to issue even more pardons, though she didn’t mention anyone by name.
“There’s a process in place, obviously,” she stated. “And so, I’m not going to get ahead of the president on this, but you could expect more announcements, more pardons, clemency at the end of this term.”
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