That's the top-rated comment at the Washington Post's article "Hunter Biden’s team issues a fiery defense ahead of sentencing, possible pardon/Judges are scheduled to sentence the president’s son for gun and tax offenses in December."
President Biden, we're told, "repeatedly said that he will not pardon or commute the sentences of his son." But, yeah, who cares? He was running for office, and he didn't even win on that promise. He didn't even lose. He got ousted by fellow Democrats who thought he couldn't win and then they lost. Worst loss ever. Ignominious. And he's still got to drag his ancient body through 7 more weeks of this "presidency" nobody thinks he can do anymore. Surely, he can do one thing — that thing maybe he can't even remember promising he wouldn't do — and pardon his only living son, the scoundrel Hunter. Who believes promises these days? Everyone promises anything and everything to get elected. Is he supposed to drag himself through his last days on Earth — his post-presidency days — with his son in prison? Is he supposed to satisfy himself instead with the hollow, icy honor of posing as a weirdly scrupulous man who kept a promise not to pardon his son? Promise? Was there really a promise? Love. Family love. That's the greater thing. No joke.
UPDATE, later the same day: Biden pardoned Hunter.
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121 comments:
I’m still hoping he doesn’t so that Trump can do it on his first day in office.
In his place, I would do it. When you have THAT kind of power, you can’t later kick yourself for not using it.
- Krumhorn
Hardly a surprise that the party of “no one’s above the law” wants their own side to be exempt from consequences for criminal activity.
The WaPo has the most cravenly stupid readers in corporate media.
…particularly if you’re the Big Guy.
- Krumhorn
From a system stability standpoint, Trump should pardon Joe, but I don’t see any reason to pardon Hunter. As an added bonus, Hunter’s trial can bring out Joe’s crimes even after his pardon.
Biden Joe… Biden Joe
He’s a schmo
That Biden Joe
He’s gonna give the pardon
Just you wait ‘n see
Why’s everybody always
Pickin’ on he?
One less percipient witness to be turned against you when the paybacks start.
- Krumhorn
…who just a few months prior this blogger was proclaiming the ancient ousted President as not that bad. Was there mocking of the commentariat? I’d have to try and rummage…
…not to worry. There’ll be the weasel words and the white spaces between them for justice to wriggle out and escape yet again.
Whether he pardons him or not, that’s just another full diaper flung at the American people.
While I think the Trump administration is too focused on going after enemies than doing the work we elected him to do (which the media ignores when Democrats do it), no decent person should object to Congressional hearings dragging the whole Biden crime family before Congress for hearings about their graft and scandals. Including Joe and Jill, as they have disgraced and lied to us about his competence.
But he said he wouldn't do it on his "honor as a Biden"
LOL, nobody bought that either.
yeah, about that statement. Altparsing finds ‘no one’ has multiple meanings, meaning more than one, even all (Democrats) should be allowed to commit crimes. It’s about equity…
Pardon every single person similarly situated and Bob's your uncle!
The submission in the post headline is glorious, however…
Just because his father’s a bad person doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be pardoned.
Biden should pardon all the January sixers and Trump should pardon Biden’s son.
Of course he should and will pardon his son.
Tina Trent: " I think the Trump administration is too focused on going after enemies than doing the work we elected him to do"
Except going after enemies is part and parcel of the work we elected him to do. It's necessary for draining the swamp: by removing and incapacitating the people who are going to #Resist him, and pour encourager les autres by showing them there is a price they will pay for their villainy.
Otherwise, he will once again have brought a pillow to an axe fight.
JSM
Those are the bullshit charges allowed to be prosecuted to cover for the lawfare against Trump and many other Republicans. I'm fairly certain only the usual GOPe simps are going to tut-tut over a pardon on those charges when Hunter and Biden are likely to escape even prosecution related to the bribes the Biden Crime Family has been taking for years.
Hunter will get a pardon. Ignore his word as a Biden.
The NYT is amazingly brazen in their tone, depending on the party affiliation of the subject. When it’s Trump they will reach back to any vaguely contradictory position or remark just to justify using their TRUMP LIES trope. But when the outgoing president is a Democrat then the tone is “fuck those promises. Life is short!”
And they are still baffled by the American people’s trust in the veracity of “news” sources dissipating year after year.
Appoint Hunter as ambassador to China.
There you go. If these schemers had wisdom to match their cunning they would advise Biden to pardon Trump at the same time as Hunter while “borrowing” Ford’s speech on pardoning Nixon.
…as if we needed another data point that Democrats firmly oppose a judicial system and fully support a ‘judicial system’ as political tool…
There’s truth in that.
And you think exploiting Americans’ foreign policy for personal gain in a volatile war footing is what, a fart in the wind? How disappointing.
Yes - the power of the pardon was granted exclusively to the President of the United States so that he could bypass justice for the criminal wrongdoing of his own family members - it’s right there in the Constitution.
Love? Where was the tough love when Hunter was growing up, guiding him away from his lifestyle? Or was it all a convenient business arrangement?
If he is pardoned, will the Biden family return all the $ - including the Big Guy’s 10% - that they stole from the American people through criminal arrangements that not only enriched them, but put the country that Biden swore to protect in dangerous situations? Yeah, I thought not.
Another horrible precedent to set for future administrations.
Perhaps if you’re this slow, you should apply your limited knowledge to getting through the day educating yourself about the crimes themselves, rather than seeking possibly false sympathy with your fake name.
I don’t care if Hunter is pardoned by his Dad. It won’t be Republicans howling about the ethics, because they speak for themselves. It will be Republicans investigating the 51 intelligence officials that fraudulently claimed that Hunters laptop was Russian disinformation. Will Biden pardon them?
Another gun law on the books not enforced? Sounds about right.
Trump should announce now that he will upon taking office commute any sentence of incarceration imposed on Hunter on the currently existing guilty verdicts. If the Bidens want more than that, they should do it themselves.
I'm sure Republican's will criticize the pardon, but will they actually "howl"? I doubt it. Nobody believed Biden when he said he wouldn't pardon Hunter, so what exactly is there to "howl" about?
Of course Joe will pardon Hunter. What would Christmas be like if he didn’t?
But this is a perfect example of how headlines are so good at distracting the public from the important issue: The millions the Biden Crime Family grifted during Joe’s time in office.
Kay said...
"Just because his father’s a bad person doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be pardoned."
Tina Trent responded...
"And you think exploiting Americans’ foreign policy for personal gain in a volatile war footing is what, a fart in the wind?"
Oh, who's being naive, Kay?
mindnumbrobot said...
"I'm sure Republican's will criticize the pardon, but will they actually 'howl'? I doubt it."
Maybe they can gather on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Yes pardon make the whole Lesuo operation they have been running for years plain,
Trump should commute Hunter’s sentence and leave the convictions in place.
Typically a pardon is granted in order to right some sort of injustice. Even if the injustice is just a pretense.
Where is the injustice in Hunter’s case? At a bare minimum, he didn’t pay his taxes. You know, like you and I are required to do.
It is unhealthy to allow yourself to get so angry and aroused by in innocuous comment made by a stranger on the internet Tina.
"The Democratic Party of Wisconsin's governing body has voted unanimously to officially endorse Kamala Harris for President of the United States," said Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. He added:
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Yeah, he's special.
Well done, Rocco.
Why not?? Progressives are nothing BUT pathological liars. Just do it already. Hunter will get his in the long run, and he won't like it when Daddy is gone, and there is nobody there to rescue him.
I thought that was his unofficial title already...and Ukraine too.
Yes. Just like "Republicans pounce", the goal is to not talk about why Hunter would need a pardon in the first place. If it was about giving Trump a pardon, the focus would be on why he needs a pardon.
Another question is will Joe pardon James?
Yep, Rocco for the win- I love a well-place allusion.
Yes- this is how Biden should do it and I think Trump would agree to it.
Of course Hunter will get a pardon. That doesn't prevent Kash Patel from putting Hunter's laptop out on the internet. Let the world know what the Bidens have done and, by extension, let the world know who helped them do it.
Biden can pardon Hunter, but he should be candid about it. Give us a moment without spin or bull shit. Something like:
"Hunter is a mess. He always has been, but he is our mess. I said that I wouldn't pardon him, and I didn't think I would, but right now, the way it is, I have the authority, and I'm going to. You can hate me for it if you want, but anyone who has had a child that is all fucked up, will understand."
Biden wouldn't do that. Being honest doesn't come naturally to him.
@tinatrent you’re putting words in my mouth.
I've said since the beginning that Biden should pardon his son. What the hell is Biden's time as POTUS worth if he doesn't save his own kid? Your solution is more elegant, though, Eva Marie.
Paul Manafort is someone's son. So is Mike Flynn. Roger Stone. All of the J6 prisoners (except those who are daughters).
But sure, because Hunter happens to be the son of the guy with pardoning power, it's what any father would do, so it's just fine.
The rest of them are screwed unless they can come up with the baksheesh.
Republicans howl? What about Democrats? The Democrats in Congress all have repeatedly stated that one of their core principle that “nobody is above the law!” Oh, wait … Never mind.
Pardon him AND appoint him as ambassador to France for a few weeks.
Hunter Biden actually needs to be sentenced to prison for more than year and/or be bankrupted by a fine before President Biden will pardon him. If the sentence is no prison time and a small fine, then I think he won't be pardoned by his father.
I wrote it in these threads before- I would have acquitted him of the gun charges were I on that jury for nullification purposes- it was ticky-tack charge which only charged in an attempt to avoid charging him on tax evasion. The tax evasion case is different, though- I would have convicted on that one.
Manafort was a middleman for Podesta and Weber, they were never charged for unlicensed lobbying
I don't even remember what Roger Stone was charged with,
Honestly, I don’t really care about Hunter Biden’s crimes. It was the cover up that was the problem. You can’t pardon that.
Hunter is his son, of course he should pardon him.
A president should not treat the office like his own personal possession to do with what he wants, even if Trumpists think it is. Pardoning a family member is an abuse of office.
Given the Biden administration's practices on guns, there is no way to pardon Hunter without destroying every other anti-gun effort over the last four years. Biden aggressively went after firearm dealers, and did everything possible to pull their sales licenses for any reason at all. This included when too many criminals (legally) happened to buy guns from a specific dealer. Or if the dealer had typos on their forms. Or if they described a community was a "city" when it was actually a "county." Etc.
Joe: Please pardon Hunter -- eliminate any justification for keeping the BATF.
"Hunter is his son, of course he should pardon him."
This is why we can't have nice things.
Why would Joe care about what the world says??? He will pardon his son and just turn his back and walk away....
Joe his brother and Hunter are all corrupt liars - who used shell companies to line their pockets with illegal money laundered millions thru Ukraine and China.
Just a happy coincidence that the war machine gives billions to Ukraine every other day.
and never forget this:
Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal
Biden has no choice but to pardon Hunter, for the same reason he had no choice but to step aside for Kamala, because he's guilty as hell and he doesn't want to be exposed. Hunter knows everything.
I think there's a good chance that Biden's handlers will have him sign blanket pardons covering every White House staffer, every political appointee, and every family member.
And every anonymous "law enforcement official."
Eva Marie: "Biden should pardon all the January sixers and Trump should pardon Biden’s son."
Totally agree. Mutual, even irrational, compassion after the break up is like the Elmer's Glue that keeps the union together. It feels icky. And in reality it's not all that strong. But somehow the pieces manage to stay together.
I share this concern. I would rather the incoming administration focus its best prosecuting talent on a small collection of the worst offenders, and absolutely demolish them, to send the message of 'what is possible' to Democrats. But I don't want to see all of the positive energy of the election liquidated over 4 years of score-settling. I want meaningful constructive reform of this bloated carcass of government more than retribution.
Biden's pardoning of Hunter is an absolute given and has been since the day Hunter first got himself in trouble. Joe Biden is simply not going to spend his last couple years on earth with his sole surviving son in prison. How can anyone even question or debate this?
why not trial first pardon after?
Joe has no choice but to pardon him or else the Trump administration can offer him immunity and Hunter can start naming interesting names. I don't think Hunter should go to prison. I think he should be a cooperating witness. I sure am curious who is buying those paintings.
He’s already signed it, in case he dies or gets fully incapacitated. It’ll be announced on January 19th or so.
It's not just Joe. Remember this summer when the *President* of the United State was whining about being threatened by "the elites"? I remember because that was wild: an open admission that there are "elites" who have more power than the elected president of the United States. And then "the elites" won.
The Elites will make sure Hunter stays quiet.
Trump should pardon Hunter for more than just the two cases in court. He should pardon him for everything related to the foreign bribes and laundering.
Then Hunter will have no criminal exposure and hence no 5th amendment to take. Trump's DOJ and the MAGA congress can then subpoena the living daylights out of Hunter to get the full story on the Biden crime family. If Hunter refuses to testify, or if he makes the slightest "happy/glad" difference from what the interrogators already know, break it off in his ass.
No point in protecting a guy who might live 4 more years, when you have to live 40 more years. Hunter will roll.
JSM
He is right to pardon his son. Sanctimonious show-boaters who insist otherwise are not being honest.
may bring out true color of Marco Rubio
Joe Biden, his brother and Hunter got away with everything they did anyway.
So what is the big deal?
Biden was nice to Trump when Trump came to the White House so Trump would pardon Hunter. Why do a favor to someone who has contempt for you and told people you were more or less Hitler. No pardon before a trial and sentencing.
Would pardoning Hunter open up the way to a major investigation of the Bidens' influence peddling? Unlikely. Washington doesn't work that way anymore, and if it did, the press would bury it. The millions of people who know nothing about the Biden gang's dealings won't ever learn about the goings-on.
The dominant feature of Joe Biden's political career has been grifting/selling access to power. Pardoning convicted felon Hunter for personal benefit would be the perfect way to cap off his life in office.
Move over, Jimmy Carter: we've got a new GOAT for worst President ever!
For Biden to pardon Hunter would constitute a gross abuse of power, even if he hadn't repeatedly promised the American people that he wouldn't pardon Hunter. I'm shocked that anyone here regards it as the normal or expected thing for a president to do. It'd be no more normal than accepting bribes to pardon people, something Clinton may well have done, but was hammered for in public opinion because it was so obviously corrupt.
If Hunter's argument for a pardon, on the merits, is so strong, then let him make it to a future president, one without a glaring conflict of interest.
"Mutual, even irrational, compassion after the break up is like the Elmer's Glue that keeps the union together. It feels icky. And in reality it's not all that strong. But somehow the pieces manage to stay together."
And what's the evidence for this? The reality is that injustice feeds resentment. Arbitrarily letting a criminal off the hook because he's some important person's son is not likely to unite the country in a feeling of harmony.
"Pardon your son. Let the Republicans howl. Who cares?"
umm..
Half the country? More than half of the voters in the country?
The Overwhelming majority of the states?
I don't think you will find any disagreement on that issue- it is an abuse of power. However, what would you do in President Biden's position and it was your son facing 2-5 years in federal prison?
I would like to think I wouldn't abuse power to save a son from prison but I honestly don't know what I would do if the hypothetical were real for me and there no penalty that could be levied against me for doing so. I think that is with what almost everyone here is struggling.
I would try to support him in any way possible, but not at the expense of committing a gross offense against public trust. Two to five in a federal joint isn't the worst form of suffering anyone has had to endure.
No, he would be quite wrong. So are you.
If Joe pardons Hunter, Hunter can't plead the Fifth if called to testify against Joe.
Hunter Biden withheld the paycheck of a young woman working for him and refused to give her her money unless she fucked him. That's not an allegation, that's in email exchanges between the woman and Hunter Biden. You would think, among women at least, that this guy would be targeted for destruction by the feminist faction of the Democrat Party, wouldn't you? But instead, its been a long time since that incident was exposed and Hinter Biden suffered exactly no consequences, and it is never spoken of since then.
In short, Hunter Biden is a bad person too. An especially despicable lowlife scumbag. There are no "good" Bidens.
Hunter isn't going to prison.
Over the years I've seen many a comment that ATF should be a retail store, not a government agency. I'm more and more inclined to believe that. Though I wouldn't have any use for the T section of the store... Another duplicative agency. Especially since the AT part is heavily regulated by the States. And the F? There seems to be amnesia about the fact that the militia, all of us, under the original plan, should all equip ourselves as the average standard issue infantryman. Which means, today, a select fire long gun. Today, they try to say military weapons shouldn't be available to citizens. Yet the SC decision banning short barreled shotguns was BECAUSE they weren't useful military weapons. Totally disregarding the fact that they were used in WWI trench warfare...
What kind of banana republic back-scratching bullshit is that? "I'll release all the political prisoners of your party if you don't prosecute my criminal son."
The lack of moral clarity in some people is really concerning. Here's what should happen- The J6 prisoners should be released immediately, pardoned and compensated because they are innocent. Hunter and Joe Biden, and Jim Biden and Ashley Biden should all be indicted and arrested and put on trial because they have engaged in criminal activity. Period, end of story!
Hear, hear! WTF are people thinking to support these scumbags abusing the pardon system to keep themselves and their criminal allies from facing the consequences of their decades of criminal activity?
Trump won, in part, because of the appearance and reality of a set of laws for the Democrat elite, and everyone else.
I'm still wondering how SLICK Hillary is walking free and not in prison. While Democrats continue to describe Trump as "lawless".
Fire the FBI director. Let the Democrats howl. Who cares?
If we'll just be nice to Biden and the Democrats who have been trying to jail their Republican opponents for made-up crimes then the Democrats will be nice to us!
Joe might not want to pardon Hunter. He may want to keep him alive.
He'll likely get a felony-level sentence - over 1 year incarceration - but stayed to probation for longer if he behaves. That wouldn't be out of the norm.
And then Hunter has to submit to probationary conditions, such as drug UA's.
The UA's might be what keep Hunter from killing himself with the drugs.
A good dad might WANT that sort of supervision for his son, whim he loves.
NBC now reporting President Biden to announce pardon of Hunter Biden tonight
Figured it would not be as productive to name him to ambassadorship at this point.
I guess we've got an answer to that "Nobody is above the law" claim.
Statement from President Joe Biden
Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, 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. 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.
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.
For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: 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.
OMG "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 "
"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."
"Almost never"? So people have been brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form? Got it.
Did their fathers have the opportunity to pardon them?
I guess I was wrong- Biden didn't wait for the sentencing. I agree with Biden that the gun charges were bullshit but it was his own DoJ's bullshit and was done to try to save Biden Presidential campaign- blaming this on Republicans is a perfect example of Biden's basic dishonesty. The tax evasion, however, was justice- Hunter Biden was guilty and willfully so. Had I done what Biden did it wouldn't take 7 years to charge me with it and there would be no pardon for me.
"I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice"
J6 prisoners say "What? No way!"
So, how many others is Biden pardoning who were sentenced to prison for tax evasion?
At 12:01 PM on January 20, Trump should have each member of the Biden crime cartel arrested at gunpoint by dozens of ATF officers with Shoot-to-Kill orders videotaping the arrests.
An entertaining thread from June: https://althouse.blogspot.com/2024/06/hunter-biden-found-guilty.html
This, by the way, confirms for me why Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to the tax charges in September- his father had already assured him that he was going to get a pardon and the family didn't want to spend any more money on lawyers.
The real point is, however many times Joe said he wouldn't, everybody knew he would. The fact he's a habitual liar is just baked into everyone's expectations.
It's been that way since at least the 1990s.
I wouldn't mind seeing Trump pardoned in NY, but my impression it's much harder to accomplish for gov than federal pardon for pres.
Joe Biden is an Althouse reader!
Inga?
Can't say I blame him.
Joe B has always been a mean, vindictive, dishonest, for-sale politician, but he's also always been a good dad. What else could he do here?
There are enough other reasons to excoriate the guy. I would have done this too.
The purpose of pushing the gun charge is that it carries serious time in a federal lockup. That in turn allows a real prosecutor (which we didn't have working this case at all) to pressure the convicted person into testifying against higher ups in the criminal organization. Hunter could take down most of the Democrat Party heirarchy with his insider knowledge of their misbehavior. And would, to keep his own self out of prison fashions.
" a father and a President"
In his withdrawal address, he talked about his "party and country." Always gets it backward.
Crack 'n hookers party at the Whitehouse tomorrow!
This is what worries me. I could live with seeing absolutely no one suffer any legal or professional consequences if I knew that the institutions were cleaned up and things were getting better. But I don't know how likely that is to happen unless people do face those consequences or threats of those consequences.
Hey Ann, I may be publishing this late in the game, but: I've got a sibling in federal prison. Without going into details, I'll say it was a heinous crime, it's deserved, and I'm surprised they weren't hit harder.
It'd be a tremendous ease on my sibling, our parents, and their family if they got a pardon. I also would never trust myself with the pardon power in their case. My ability to judge it fairly is too compromised because I'm too close to it. I don't think I'd exercise the power, but I imagine the pressure from family to exercise it would be substantial.
This is why we have conflict of interest laws. We don't trust the judgement of people in certain circumstances where they benefit from outcomes and we rigu ask them to step back.
You say this is about love. I say that there are untold numbers of people with a child, sibling, or spouse serving a federal conviction who will never get that kind of mercy granted because they lack a special connection to the President. I challenge you to look anyone in the face going through the pain of a federal conviction and jail time and tell them:
Well, the President doesn't have a father's love for you.
"a good Dad". OK. Sure. Taught his son the family business.
Now that the Pardon is out of the way, will Biden resign and give us the chaos of 2 months of Kamala?
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