Not your father’s pardon
But it’s Hunter Biden’s father’s extraordinary pardon.
Because I never took Joe Biden’s promises not to pardon Hunter seriously, I didn’t really follow how many people on the left were saying he was some George-Washington-like figure for making the vow. And so I didn’t realize how much backpedaling they were going to have to do when he made the nearly-inevitable pardon announcement.
Here’s one, for example, who has been left wide-eyed and slack-jawed:
BRUTAL: Brianna Keilar on CNN just made Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) watch a clip of himself insisting that Biden would never pardon Hunter. She then asked: "What does that feel like?"
They even kept him on-screen as the video played so we could watch his reaction. pic.twitter.com/uC6EM06Ikh
— Bill D'Agostino (@Banned_Bill) December 2, 2024
Joe’s pardon has several unusual characteristics that make it worse for the left than a simple lie. For those who peddled the “noble Joe” line, it’s hard to rationalize what Biden did – although they try. But for their following who bought the “noble” line, it’s disillusioning. There’s also the breadth of the pardon:
President Joe Biden’s grant of clemency on Sunday night — an extraordinary political act with extraordinary legal breadth — insulates his son from ever facing federal charges over any crimes he possibly could have committed over the past decade.
Experts on pardons said they could think of only one other person who has received a presidential pardon so sweeping in generations: Nixon, who was given a blanket pardon by Gerald Ford in 1974.
“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,” said Margaret Love, who served from 1990 to 1997 as the U.S. pardon attorney, a Justice Department position devoted to assisting the president on clemency issues.
“Even the broadest Trump pardons were specific as to what was being pardoned,” Love added.
But Joe had to protect his son, his family, and himself from any possible charges connected with the family corruption, influence-peddling, FARA violations, perjury, and what-have-you. That’s why the pardon had to start in 2014, when Hunter began his “work” with Burisma. That’s also why the pardon had to be so broad.
And you may recall that Hunter Biden’s original plea deal that was offered by the Biden-friendly DOJ had included an unusually broad immunity grant:
First son Hunter Biden was set to receive sweeping immunity protection under the terms of a plea deal negotiated with federal prosecutors — only for the Justice Department to backtrack under questioning from a Delaware judge during a Wednesday hearing.
Special Assistant US Attorney Leo Wise and Hunter’s lawyer Christopher Clark both signed a probation-only agreement to allow the 53-year-old first son to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and enter a diversion program for a felony charge of possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine, according to a copy of the document obtained by Politico.
The memo stated that prosecutors would also not seek to charge Hunter Biden for any federal crimes attached to his case, which included millions of dollars in missed tax payments between 2016 and 2019.
The deal only left open the possibility of “prosecution for any future conduct” by the president’s son — ensuring that possible violations of foreign lobbying laws and money laundering would be forever uncharged.
That article is from July of 2023. This is what the original deal from the DOJ was. Far from being out to get Hunter (which is what Joe now asserts: selective prosecution from a hostile DOJ), they were out to make sure Hunter didn’t serve a day in prison and to immunize him from future prosecutions. The only reason it didn’t work was that the judge noticed it and put the kibosh on it.
So, far from being some act of defiance against an anti-Hunter weaponized DOJ, Joe Biden’s pardon is merely achieving what the DOJ originally tried to achieve, only through another route.
Anyone who has followed Joe’s career could not have believed the talk about how noble and rule of law he is. I’m surprised any sentient being seemed to believe it, actually.
But they are bold and they are shameless, and they are accustomed to wiggling out of anything.
Here’s a list of crimes for which Hunter might have been indicted but which are now off the table – except, I suppose, if any of them are state prosecutions. I don’t see it happening. And Hunter’s freedom seems a small price to pay in exchange for getting rid of the Biden or the Harris presidency.
This is the key thing about the Hunter pardon: it pulls the rug from under the feet of the woke elites. For months, especially as it became clear that their political fortunes were waning under a second Trump surge, the Dems and their media backers pointed to Biden’s principled position on Hunter as proof that they still enjoyed moral superiority over Trump. Biden categorically ruled out a pardon. ‘I abide by the jury decision… I will not pardon him’, he said in June. …
Look, we don’t have to be heartless bastards about it. Many among us would opt to save a child from jail, even if it meant backtracking on all our fine moral grandstanding. But the problem is the Dems tied their political rectitude to Biden’s acceptance of the jury’s democratic deliberations. They used the Hunter case to morally distinguish themselves from the allegedly lawless bruisers of the Trump set. They swore, endlessly, that they would abide by the rules and restore normalcy to the Trump-rattled republic. And they didn’t. They ended up exploiting presidential power for personal favour to a degree Trump never did. Their claims to moral distinction lie in tatters. Their delusion of righteousness stands exposed as just that: a delusion. This is why this pardon matters.
To some people, yes. But most people weren’t paying such close attention, and a lot of people will just shrug and say any father would do the same.
This is a good discussion of the pardon. These guys are sharp and funny:
I think that if Biden had just said that he was doing it for Hunter, his son. Instead he framed it as political motivated from the right. How could it be political when Biden’s own Justice Dept did the prosecution
I can understand people agreeing with the decision to pardon Hunter, but it’s just almost impossible for me to believe that anyone could actually think that Joe Biden would put some abstract principle of justice above his own selfish interests.
I don’t know how many people who are expressing disappointment in the pardon decision actually believe it but, incredible as it seems, there seem to be some people who really thought that Joe would let Hunter go to jail. I guess these are the same people who thought that Joe hadn’t lost a step and that Kamala was a competent candidate. I think I would have more respect for someone who just admitted they were lying for political benefit than someone gullible enough to believe Joe when he swears he is telling the truth.
The more that we focus on Joe’s lies and broken promises, the less we will be focused upon the fine print within the pardon and the real reason for it. Joe, or of course whoever is actually running his show (BTW, it could very well be Hunter himself), just ensured that the entire Biden crime family will get off scot free. Not for nothing does the pardon go back to 2014 when Hunter first began to take on his bagman duties for the family. And that’s the real reason for the pardon – to absolve the entire Biden crime family.
Because I never took Joe Biden’s promises not to pardon Hunter seriously, I didn’t really follow how many people on the left were saying he was some George-Washington-like figure for making the vow. And so I didn’t realize how much backpedaling they were going to have to do when he made the nearly-inevitable pardon announcement.
Yes, same exactly. Glad someone else had the same experience.
So China Joe* just admitted his DOJ, headed by Merrick Garland, is politicized.
@rbj1
He only admitted that it was politicized against Hunter. All of the Trump charges are completely righteous as far as Joe is concerned.
The Democrats keep creating traps like Me Too to catch Trump and they keep catching themselves instead.
Not for nothing does the pardon go back to 2014 when Hunter first began to take on his bagman duties for the family. And that’s the real reason for the pardon – to absolve the entire Biden crime family.
==
No. He and Uncle James have been running grifts for > 25 years.
Maybe not all good for Hunter ‘n the rest…
The bombshell hidden detail in Biden’s Hunter pardon that means it could BACKFIRE and spark a catastrophe for the entire family, revealed by ALAN DERSHOWITZ
I hope that Trump is not magnanimous, and lets his AG go after them. I am tired of this s—- that we are better then them, that the Dem will do it to us. They have been and will continue to “do it to us”. Think what might happen if the Dems take the house back in 2028.
Well, well. Suddenly, no more ad hominem left-wing political attacks and rants from some of my friends on Facebook. Imagine that. Thank you Joe.
Re Dershowitz, I think he’s dreaming here: Hunter, if asked ANYTHING, will merely “pull a Comey” (as in…um, er, uh [scratches head] I, uh, don’t remember exactly…or some variations of it—I can’t remember…or…I have no recollection…).
And ye’ know what? It works!!
So what did they trade for money and diamonds, uranium concessions in arizona koltum in the congo i dont know what the romanians wanted
Overflights in the midwest it makes you think burisma hunters employer played the green energy in monaco but in practice they dealt in natural gas
and petroleum in places like the sudan thats why they hired cofer black fmr station chief there kolomoisky the ceo who has found himself on the wrong end because ukraine war was zelenskys boss leased poroshenko the last prime minister
Barry Meislin:
Agreed – and the thing about Hunter not remembering is that some of it would probably be real, because he was so loaded with drugs. That’s probably why he lost his laptop in the first place.
BUT…know ye’ well…that the Democrats would NEVER, EVER stoop to stealing an election…or two…or three…
There is a degree of uncuriosity of titanic dimension about all these issues
Just the whole privat bank affair which was proximate to burisma which involved 6 billion dollars! Much of it our tax dollars
that makes Hunter a potential key witness for years to come.
Problem here is that you don’t just get to question witnesses for no reason. There has to be some kind of official proceeding; he’s already been pardoned for anything Federal involving himself, so anything about him is already moot. He’d have to be a witness in something involving someone else. And if those people get these broad pardons too, then there’s nothing to grab hold of, so to speak, that isn’t already moot.
I don’t get it:
If an old white guy is allowed to lie and break the law, then why can’t a young Black women!?!?
“ Fani Full Release Ordered After Fulton DA Sat On RICO Records”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fani-full-release-ordered-after-fulton-da-sat-rico-records
Niketas Choniates:
Hunter could be called as a witness in Joe’s impeachment trial; the president’s pardon power does not extend to impeachments. And Joe could even be impeached after he leaves office, following the precedent of the second Trump impeachment.
There are, now no longer protected by the DoJ, others whose complicity in the grifting could be prosecuted, or at least investigated.
That would be an avenue to question Hunter.
It would be interesting to know how many dems actually believed Biden wouldn’t pardon Hunter. It’s one thing to shrug at an obvious lie and pretend to believe it, or ignore it. It’s another to believe it. Wonder what was wrong with their brains that they should believe it. And what they’re thinking now. Is it Joe’s first lie? Huh, was he lying all along? Never, “I was wrong to believe him.”
This is the second Democrat President, in my lifetime. who claimed he couldn’t or wouldn’t do something, and then just did it anyway. Which is not surprising. It seems that Laws and precedent are just inconvenient impediments, to the glory yet to be bestowed upon us mere mortals by our generous benefactors.
I do think there’s more to this than a CYA move. Maybe Trump gave Biden an offer he couldn’t refuse?
@bof: Joe could even be impeached after he leaves office, following the precedent of the second Trump impeachment.
The House voted to impeach Jan 13, when Trump was still President…
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”Problem here is that you don’t just get to question witnesses for no reason. There has to be some kind of official proceeding…”
Both the House and the Senate have the authority to investigate the federal government and members thereof. Because of pardons they may not be able to refer all of the wrongdoers for prosecution, but they can identify and document the crimes. Such actions are necessary to adjust budgets and pass reform legislation, both of which are duties of the Congress.
James Sisco (8:47 pm) said, “This is the second Democrat President, in my lifetime. who claimed he couldn’t or wouldn’t do something, and then just did it anyway.”
In the interest of political balance, I’ve got a Republican (albeit an establishment Republican through and through) for our readers’ earnest consideration . . .
“Read My Lips: No New Taxes!”
”’Read My Lips: No New Taxes!’”
George Bush did everything in his power to fulfill that promise, but the Congress was controlled by the Democrats, and they passed the tax increases with veto-proof majorities.
So…subpoena Hunter on anything and everything related to the Biden crime family.
He can’t take the Fifth anymore if he’s been pardoned for everything.
Everyone’s been asking why Joe released the pardon on Sunday.
This pundit has a novel idea.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/12/why_did_joe_release_the_pardon_on_sunday.html