Summary
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, prompting strong backlash from Republicans.
GOP lawmakers criticized the move as an abuse of power and an attempt to avoid accountability, with figures like Rep. James Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley calling it hypocritical and corrupt.
Biden defended the pardon, citing “selective prosecution” and claiming Hunter was unfairly targeted due to their family connection.
Hunter faced convictions for federal gun and tax charges.
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The only people allowed to be outraged on this are Democrats. The Republican party lost their right to be angry about this kinda stupid stuff shortly after they elected a rapist.
Everyone needs to play the same game they do.
Is it hypocritical, yeah probably, does he have any reason to answer for it? Naw
Trump just put Kusher in a role … a person he pardoned for … “preparing false tax returns, witness retaliation, and making false statements to the FEC” per his own statement.
Right.
People voted this kind of behavior into office, repeatedly. Anyone clutching pearls right now can fuck off.
I sure as hell wouldn’t want my son at the mercy of Trumps DOJ.
If you think that Trump’s DOJ is gonna respect pardons from a Democrat…
Fuck 'em. Let them fume. This is the party that wants to let the terrorists from Jan 6 off with a pardon. The party that thinks donvict can do no wrong.
I’ll bet the Jan 6 pardons are quietly forgotten. They were a bunch of useful idiots who have already played their role and can be safely disposed of.
Only exception might be anyone who could be potentially squeezed for more information that might lead to more evidence against Trump, but even that’s probably a non-issue for him.
I seriously think he should do a LOT of other shitty things Trump set the precedent for. Like perhaps seriously abuse that presidential pardon thing that Trump invented.
Like, I don’t know, I’m just brainstorming here, perhaps order the assassinations of the future president and all of the key people circling around him. And then just go all Jesse Pinkman, “yeah! presidential immunity bitch!”.
What do you mean by the presidential pardon thing that Trump invented?
EDIT: Also it really scares me how freely people discuss murder on Lemmy. Not just from a moral standpoint but also for you. I hope people consider the seriousness of these comments and that these comments can be used against you.
Well, y’all mfuckers put a convicted felon, a rapist, a fraudster and a con artist as your president, so shut the fuck up.
You forgot the worst one, which is “fascist wanna-be dictator.”
And the worst part, these are all the same person!
I think Biden should use his pardon power for good. I don’t have a huge problem with this, but I want him to do something unexpected. Biden should pardon all the married immigrants after his program was recently shot down in court. For those that don’t know, Many immigrants are married to US citizens, but cannot achieve citizenship that you normally would be able to do. It hinges on entering the country Illegally, which requires them to leave for up to 10 years before re applying for citizenship. Biden could pardon the “crime” of illegal entry, this removing the INS statue of not allowing them citizenship.
See the problem with that is. While the president can try to pardon unlawful entry, unlawful entry is a civil offense, meaning, you aren’t even entitled to a court appointed lawyer. So the supreme court might try to weigh in on pardons for civil offenses.
But even if the pardon is all legit and pass the supreme court, it doesn’t matter, in immigration law, all arrests, all convictions, any juvenile proceeding within the past 5 years, are all visible to USCIS and they are legally allowed to consider them when determining whether or not to allow someone to enter the US, whether or not to deport them, or whether or not to allow adjustment of legal status. Yes ALL records, even pardoned, even if sealed or expunged by court, they see everything. You can visit the USCIS website and see for yourself.
Edit: And oh, even if you are never arrested, but the FBI investigated you a few times, USCIS might have access to those and if the FBI agents wrote bad things on your file, you might have problems with immigration or naturalization. Yea its quite fucked up, but it is what it is.
If an incoming fascist government were promising retribution for their political opponents, and if there were threats, however fringe, of public executions, I would also pardon my child. I’m honestly surprised more high profile people aren’t leaving the country. Though I guess that would be a bad move on multiple levels. What did that one article say? Don’t bend the knee until there’s a memo saying you have to?
Also it’s probably easier to have them killed outside the country. The CIA and Mossad operate with impunity.
I really don’t think giving the head of state the power to pardon is a very good idea. I used to be totally baffled how it was a thing at all but the rationale has since been explained to me. While I sorta get it, the theoretical benefit is far outweighed by the inevitable grimy reality. Like others, probably mostly because of my own biases, I find it hard to summon a great deal of outrage about this understandable if blatantly hypocritical move after so much prior abuse of the lower had already occurred, but frankly if the option weren’t even there then nobody would even need to talk about this. If the justice system of the nation is supposedly well designed and theoretically trustworthy then there isn’t the need to have the ability for it to be arbitrarily overrulled in a manner that operates very much like the monarchical tyrants the United States was supposedly foundationally opposed to.
Would this pardon allow Hunter full ability to leave the US and enter into other countries? Because I can totally see Biden doing this as a move to get all of his family out of harms way once Trump takes office and I don’t blame them one bit. The Republicans have been very vocal about their vengeance and honestly if this was the reasoning behind the pardon it would be the first time since the election that we’ve seen the president taking the threat we all face seriously.
I would have felt better if Biden was more honest about this. “Yes, this is a blatant abuse of my power, and shouldn’t be allowed, but it is squarely within my Official Duties. The Supreme Court says that the only remedy is impeachment. Hey, Mike, I double-dog dare ya to do it!”
I’m not pleased at the prospect of Republicans doing the same thing in four years, after the corruption of Trump’s second term, and then pointing their fingers at this… but, to anyone with half a brain and at least one eye… Hunter wasn’t in politics, wasn’t directly appointed to his staff or a representative in any fashion within the White House, and the gun and tax crimes are small fries compared to anything the Trump family and stooges are or have been up to.
Prospect? Where have you been? Did you miss when Trump pardoned Jared Kushner’s father?
Prosecutors alleged that after Charles Kushner [Jared Kushner’s father] discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities in an investigation, he hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation.
Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have the encounter in a New Jersey motel room recorded with a hidden camera and the recording sent to his own sister, the man’s wife, prosecutors said.
In fact, this man who “pleaded guilty to 18 counts including tax evasion and witness tampering” has now been nominated to be Ambassador to France by Trump. There is no “prospect of Republicans doing the same thing in four years.” They’ve been doing it for the last 40+ years already. You just haven’t been paying attention.
It’s about time the Democrats got of their damn high horse and got down in the mud and started fighting like they mean it.
Prospect? Trump handed out pardons like candy to far worse people who happened to aligned with his politics. After 8 years of seeing Trump rat-fuck norms and laws and precedent and unjustly go after his family and get away with everything, while everyone else tries to play by the rules, Biden is probably asking himself why he has to let his son risk prison when he knows everyone in the incoming administration wouldn’t even give a second thought to pardoning.
I don’t support it, but I get it. This is the kind of shit America voted for, right?
Haven’t seen this linked yet so I’ll leave it here: https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-joseph-biden-2021-present - (25 pardons, 26 pardons including Hunter) https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-donald-j-trump-2017-2021 - (144 pardons)
(Got distracted counting Trumps pardons, may be off by a few)
Yeah the choice for President was between cop and felon. The majority polled against equal application of the rule of law. Biden is just respecting the voters’ wishes.
Roger Stone, Steve Banon, Dinesh D’Souza all sorts of other crony based pardons were already done in Trumps last term.
Your Pearl Clutching the inevitable (as of it will now be Bidens fault) is ridiculous, and out of line.
Ooof, you went from my comment being just slightly irritated that he did it when he could have not done it and better served the Democratic Party by keeping his hands out of and showing that the Dems can do and be better, just a small gripe but that I understand anyway… to blasting me for ‘pearl clutching’? Ok, I guess.
The Democrats can be better sure. But no one cares unfortunately. They re elected someone far worse.
Worse, Republicans were already hypocritically obsessed with Hunter. With them preparing to fascisticaly weaponize the DOJ. He would have been one of the first and worst targeted by them. I don’t blame or hold pardoning him against Joe Biden. It won’t stop the fascists ultimately. But it will make him less of an easy target.
Democrats spent the last 4 years worrying about optics. And they have nothing to show for it.
I’m fuckin glad he did it.
Did you forget Trump pardoning several war criminals and others in his cabinet who directly worked with foreign adverse governments?
No, but America did and America will forget again. The only thing that matters is the freshest thing their opponent did, the one that gets the most media, and my small gripe about this, which should barely be an issue to begin with, is that the Republicans will blow it out of proportions and use it to excuse themselves for corruption and treason.
It’s a gripe. I understand why he did it. I understand the last guy did worse. But, I still reserve the right to complain a little.
that the Republicans will blow it out of proportions and use it to excuse themselves for corruption and treason.
They will do this regardless of what their opponent does.
Don Jr did cocaine in public at the recent Space X launch and not a peep out of the mainstream media, much less police.
If a policeman saw a black man outside a night club do what Don Jr did, he would have been arrested on the spot and immediately thrown in jail.
There’s no disagreement from me, before you made this comment or after.
whataboutism
And those “small fries” were illegally buying a firearm and skirting $1,400,000 in federal taxes.
And I thought we were the guys who wanted stronger gun control and the rich to pay their taxes?? Does that go out the window when it’s one of “ours”?
Based on how those crimes have been enforced, yes. The federal gun charge that says a drug addict cannot own a gun is rarely enforced historically and is being challenged in the courts by Republicans because the DOJ started using it against white supremacists. Yet Hunter Biden wasn’t even allowed a plea deal because of the politics around him. As for the taxes, when he was caught, he paid them and the fines associated with them. For literally anyone else caught doing the same, that is the end of it. No jail time or further penalties.
Joe Biden tried to let the courts do their job and trusted that the courts would be fair. They weren’t. This was clearly a political prosecution and I would have done the same in (Joe) Biden’s shoes.
The federal gun charge that says a drug addict cannot own a gun is rarely enforced historically
And yet it’s still a felony. I thought we were the ones who support strong gun regulation?
wasn’t even allowed a plea deal
No one is entitled to a plea deal. For the severity of Hunter’s crimes, I’m fine with it.
As for the taxes, when he was caught, he paid them
Keyphrase: “When he was caught.” He was just fine stealing the $1.4m from Americans otherwise.
Joe Biden tried to let the courts do their job and trusted that the courts would be fair. They weren’t.
That’s not how it works and you know this is going to literally be Trump’s argument on Day One when he starts pardoning his supporters, right?
“the severity of hunters crimes”
I fucking loled
I’m not saying I agree with the decision, but as Biden, would you really want your son somewhere Trump could immediately fuck with him as soon as he wanted? Had Kamala won this would absolutely be a dumbass decision. With Trump incoming… I get it.
Who cares about what happens to Hunter “10% for The Big Guy” Biden? Maybe I’m just some poor peon who doesn’t understand how the ultra-wealthy are, but “lying during a gun purchase and not paying $1,400,000 in federal taxes” seem like pretty avoidable crimes to me.
This is such an awful thing for Biden to do. The “both sides” folk are going to have a time with this for the next four years and they’ll be absolutely right in this case.
“10% for the big guy”
With that one phrase you’ve gone FULL mask off lmao. You are the epitome of “both sides r the same”.
Yep that’s a mask off to reveal the trumptard face moment. Trump supporters are garbage and we will remember who is one for quite some time.
Personally I’m boycotting any business with visible Trump support, and I make it a point to tell their staff that I won’t be back and the reason why. Last time I had to do this I told them their Trump shit was fucking disgusting and I would never be back.
I’m of the, apparently wildly fascistic, opinion that vice presidents’ sons shouldn’t sell off their father’s influence to foreign nationals.
But Trump placing his son in law, sons, and daughter into White House positions and using their fathers influence to obtain backroom deals with the Chinese government (ivanka) and securing a $3 billion loan from the Saudi royal family (Jared Kushner) is different right? 🤡
The problem with you and other ghouls like you is that your game doesn’t work when talking to people who have paid attention to events in the last 8 years. Not everyone is as willing to suspend facts as you are.
Absolutely right?
Dems did it once, Republicans live in this shit.
See: “whataboutism”
Compared to the shit Flynn, Manafort, Stone, etc were doing? Yeah, small fry.
Conveniently forgetting the fact Trump has literally thousands of pardons lined up for when he gets back in office
How does that saying go? Something like “if they didn’t have double standards they’d have no standards at all”
I’m surprised Republicans can even remember what a moral high ground looks like let alone pretend to hold it. According to them attempted insurrection, rape, grifting, child sex trafficking, taking away citizens rights on religious grounds, nepotism in high ranking government roles bypassing security screening, soliciting other countries for election interference, abandoning foreign allies, attempting to undermine elections, pardoning murderers, denying election results, etc are all legal and morally okay for people to commit with no restitution for victims or consequences for perpetrators.
In a perfect world I’d say he needs to let the system work and nobody is above the law, yada yada yada. Clearly this world and country are horribly fucked. For YEARS Republicans have been using the term “Biden Family” to make them sound like some kind of crime syndicate, coming up with “ominous facts” that were not indicative of any actual crime, held an impeachment over President Bidens head for years, distributed naked pictures of Hunter, and interfered with what would’ve been a simple plea deal, all the while trying to downplay the most corrupt presidency in our history.
Fuck the norms. Fuck ethics. Fuck propriety. The new America requires you to use every tool at your disposal just to get your most basic fucking rights. If Republicans think this is such an abuse of power they can do their fucking jobs for once in their lives and pass some fucking ethics reform. I applaud Joe’s embrace of the new normal and I hope other Democrats figure out this is the new normal, whether they like it or not, and stop playing pussyfoot with a party that’s been playing “kick the groin” for over 30 years.
Hypocrites. That’s all the GOP is. And their base is full of them too.
Good. Fuckem. I’d be pissed about it, too, if we had something resembling justice in this country. Let them have aneurysms.
Words have proven futile. If Dems don’t play the same game Republicans play we WILL lose this democracy.
Democracy has already been lost. Turning into mindless beasts won’t bring it back. Neoliberals have voted for the lesser evil so many times that they’re cheering for blatant political corruption, why would you expect them to want a return to democracy? They just want a dictatorship with “their guy” in charge.
Democracy has already been lost if every party has to play that game
Cool, so pardon someone besides your own son Joe. You can dress it up in flowery speech if you want but until this supposed willingness to play dirty leads to improvements in someone else’s life this is just more of the same bullshit. He’s not helping America with this action he’s helping himself. That’s not noble at all.
He already has one dead son, so I doubt he’s in the mood to offer another as a sacrifice to the MAGAs
Agree that this looks and feels bad, but Hunter was overly scrutinized and punished for his crimes. He already paid his due and was the victim of a real witch hunt. If Trump was pardoning Don Jr I’d be pissed (depending on the crimes I suppose, let DonnyJ do some drugs), but that would be different because Hunter was never involved in politics, held public office or government positions, etc.
I don’t care what his reasoning is. We elected him to protect democracy from Trump and this is perhaps the most obvious example that he’s always been more interested in protecting him and his friends than the rest of us. We all know what’s coming in 6 weeks and look at our supposed protector’s most significant action since the election, handing out a pardon to his own family just like Trump did. Thanks Joe, I’m sure we’ll all sleep better over the next 4 years knowing you dealt with Hunter’s problems instead of ours.
“Nothing will fundamentally change.”
