Hunter gets his pardon!

[graylocks]

Speedy wrote:
This is what sleazy Repubs do. I was expecting better of Biden.

This is what a parent does when the real point of the prosecution was to punish the parent. HB would not have been put through that hell if he were your or my son.

[vision63]

Speedy wrote:
This is what sleazy Repubs do. I was expecting better of Biden.

Every president pardons and commutes. The goal is to right wrongs. Prosecuting Hunter was a wrong.

[PeterB]

Straight from the horse's mouth:

"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 noncriminal 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 courtroom — 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.

Executive Grant of Clemency

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

President of the United States of America

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto

ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth."

...

Yes, Joe, we understand why a President and father would do this.

Note that if it were a Republican President pardoning those who violently stormed the capitol and injured police officers, it'd be A-OK. But because it's a Democrat, and pardoning his own son who has been truly witch-hunted by the other party, it's a "Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!" (to quote the Dumpster).

[Lemon Drop]

vision63 wrote:
[quote=Speedy]
This is what sleazy Repubs do. I was expecting better of Biden.

Every president pardons and commutes. The goal is to right wrongs. Prosecuting Hunter was a wrong.
Agree completely, I'm so glad the President did this.

[mrbigstuff]

Ombligo wrote:
I'll bet they will still harass and try to drum up something on him.

I'd like to see Biden pardon himself just so SCOTUS will say no to it, removing that option from Trump later on.

I love that idea, and I think that if he were to give his reasons for doing so, it would pass muster with most.

[Lemon Drop]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=Ombligo]
I'll bet they will still harass and try to drum up something on him.

I'd like to see Biden pardon himself just so SCOTUS will say no to it, removing that option from Trump later on.

I love that idea, and I think that if he were to give his reasons for doing so, it would pass muster with most.
Pardon himself for what?

[mrbigstuff]

Lemon Drop wrote:
[quote=mrbigstuff]
[quote=Ombligo]
I'll bet they will still harass and try to drum up something on him.

I'd like to see Biden pardon himself just so SCOTUS will say no to it, removing that option from Trump later on.

I love that idea, and I think that if he were to give his reasons for doing so, it would pass muster with most.
Pardon himself for what?
Exactly!

[GGD]

mrbigstuff wrote:
[quote=Lemon Drop]
[quote=mrbigstuff]
[quote=Ombligo]
I'll bet they will still harass and try to drum up something on him.

I'd like to see Biden pardon himself just so SCOTUS will say no to it, removing that option from Trump later on.

I love that idea, and I think that if he were to give his reasons for doing so, it would pass muster with most.
Pardon himself for what?
Exactly!
Every charge that was brought against Trump.

Failure to return classified documents.

Being responsible for an insurrection on Jan 6th because he won the election causing lots of people to violently object.

He must have asked for and was given those 11,780 votes first because they weren't available with Trump asked for them.

[Ca Bob]

From the time that Trump as president had that telephone call with Zelensky in order to get some fabricated investigation going on Hunter, it was a fact that the Republicans were trying to build a phony case against some Biden -- and it didn't really matter which one. Trump's claim was that Joe was using his office to do a favor for Hunter. It was classical Donald Trump projection at the time, and the rest of the prosecution by the prosecutor who came out of the Trump administration's power has been overkill. Joe's reasoning in the pardon statement is sound.

[AllGold]

I'm happy about this pardon and believe it was absolutely justified, but I'm sad that it had to come to this--because of Republicans' successful attempts to make it a political cudgel.

(As for Speedy's comment, I could be wrong but I just assume it was his typical dry humor.)