It was a surprise that President Biden unconditionally pardoned his son Hunter, a convicted felon, after he repeatedly vowed not to do so. Every time Biden or his press secretary was asked in recent months whether a pardon was in the cards, both said emphatically no.
So much for one of the presidents Favorite lines“I give you my word as Biden.”
Hunter, who faced him a possible prison sentence of several years Because of tax evasion and lying on a federal firearms application, he can now continue his career as a mediocre painter of overpriced art.
I admit, when I first heard the pardon news, I thought, “Good for you, Joe! Why should you follow the rules when no one on Planet Trump does? Let the people who voted to return a sexually abusive, defamatory and fraudulent criminal to the White House get a little taste of their own medicine.”
However, at second glance it is more complicated.
How can any of us be outraged at how immune Trump and those around him appear to be from the consequences of their evil actions when we applaud Biden's pardon of his son for crimes for which he has either been convicted or pleaded guilty?
How can we be outraged that Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner received $2 billion from him? the murderous Saudis If we think it's perfectly fine that Hunter Biden is paid millions of dollars to sit on the board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that was investigated for corruption while his father was vice president and opposed to White House policies of Ukraine?
The real scandal is the general lack of accountability for the illegal, unethical or immoral behavior of children born into wealth and privilege, whose only “talents” are their ability to exploit their proximity to powerful people. Nepo babies will be Nepo babies.
Hunter Biden was accused of lying on a gun purchase form after claiming under penalty of perjury that he did not use drugs when, as he recounts in his memoir, he was a raging coke and meth addict. He was also accused of evading more than $1 million in taxes, which he has since paid plus penalties and interest.
Was he unfairly excluded? Maybe, but he still broke the law.
As President Biden explained announce the pardon“Without aggravating factors such as being used in a crime, making multiple purchases, or purchasing a gun as a straw purchaser, people are almost never taken to court for a crime simply because they filled out a gun form.” Those who pay their taxes late due to serious addiction but then repaid them with interest and penalties generally receive non-criminal solutions.”
All true, which is why the government originally offered Hunter a deal that would have allowed him to avoid prison time. He was expected to plead guilty to two counts of failing to pay his taxes on time for 2017 and 2018 and to agree to a diversion program that would allow him to avoid prosecution on charges that he lied when he filed a tax bill in 2018 Bought a handgun.
But a federal judge put the plea deal on hold last year she said she did not want to “sign off” on an unorthodox and complex agreement that came about without her input. Republicans pushed further, filing an amicus brief complaining that the deal was too lenient and that the investigation was being marred by political interference from the Biden administration.
At this point, with the plea deal in shambles, Atty. General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor in the case. A month later, in September 2023, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened his sham impeachment inquiry into the president, claiming that Biden had lied about his knowledge of his son's business affairs.
The The final report of the House of Representatives basically established that Hunter was using his father's name to enrich himself. Yawning.
Last summer, after a salacious trial at which as the New York Times put it“Mr. Biden's crack addiction, reckless behavior and ruinous spending were painfully exposed,” a federal jury found Hunter guilty on three weapons-related charges. In September, Hunter Biden avoided tormenting his family with another trial by pleading guilty to nine federal tax charges.
“Attempts were made to break Hunter – who has been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” President Biden’s statement said. “By trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me – and there’s no reason to think it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
Hunter may have been prosecuted, but Hunter actually screwed up. And President Biden, who has often said that Americans in the Trump era are suffering from a “Fight to save the soul of the nation“has shown that he too will distort justice for his own purposes. I thought he would be better than that.
Bluesky: @rabcarian.bsky.social. Topics: @rabcarian