Lame duck President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son was attacked by President-elect Donald Trump as a miscarriage of justice.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.
Trump has said that freeing individuals who participated in the Capitol incursion that he feels are wrongly in prison would be one of his first acts as president.
The pardon was also condemned by Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, noting that it caps a year in which the justice system became a political puppet for Democrats.
“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” according to Newsweek.
Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, trashed Biden’s actions.
“With this pardon, Joe Biden shredded any residue of veracity and credibility as president,” Turley posted on X.
With this pardon, Joe Biden shredded any residue of veracity and credibility as president. For years, he was repeatedly asked if he met any of his son’s clients. He lied and denied it. He was repeatedly asked if he was aware of Hunter’s foreign dealings. He repeatedly lied and…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) December 2, 2024
“For years, he was repeatedly asked if he met any of his son’s clients. He lied and denied it. He was repeatedly asked if he was aware of Hunter’s foreign dealings. He repeatedly lied and denied it. He was asked if he would pardon his son. He repeatedly lied and denied it,” Turley wrote.
Is the Biden family corrupt?
Turley said giving Hunter Biden a 10-year pardon for whatever he might have done “is precisely the type of sweeping immunity grant that the federal judge balked at in the hearing when the earlier sweetheart deal feel apart. The judge asked the prosecutor if he had ever seen such a deal and he admitted that he had not.”
“Notably, when he was running for reelection and denying that he would pardon Hunter, few believed him. Some of us noted that Hunter’s bizarre legal strategy only made sense if he was told that, in the worst-case scenario, his father would pardon him,” Turley wrote.
“Hunter Biden is hardly the poster child for a victim of over-enforcement of federal laws. He was given a free pass on allegations that he was an unregistered agent and was the personification of influence peddling in Washington,” Turley commented.
In a statement on the White House website, Biden explained his decision.
“I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Biden said.
“Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room — with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases,” Biden continued.
In fact, the plea deal was thrown out by U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, who objected to its provisions, according to the Associated Press.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” Biden said.
Biden concluded the statement, saying he was committing justice.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
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