Trump committed treason on national television, Hunter was only ever charged because his dad was President of the party opposite of the Prosecutor.
If the former gets off scott free, so should the later.
I read over Biden's statement, and it makes sense to me. Hunter was singled out for political purposes. It would seem weird if Biden didn't issue the pardon.
False. Hunter was charged and convicted of criminal acts that are generally unenforced for the rich and powerful. The fact that they are generally unenforced does nothing to offset the fact that his actions were ultimately criminal.
Not being given a "get out of jail free" card when all your friends got one for doing the same thing =/= being singled out for your political affiliation.
Selective enforcement is one of the justifications for jury nullification, so it seems that it should apply for pardons too.
It took them 8 years to find something with Hunter to be charged with. It was maybe the biggest political witch hunt ever. If you conduct a witch hunt, you're going to find "witches". Is this really what conservatives are scratching at? Because I would love for them to look at the last 5 year of dispensary ID logs and compare them to FID forms.
Again, not being extended a courtesy because you are rich and expect that courtesy to be extended is not the same thing as being the subject of a witch hunt. In EXACTLY the same way a lotto winner might have their old tax records reviewed, people in any kind of spotlight are going to be under increased scrutiny. People like Hunter have access to every resource imaginable to help them stay current on their taxes and avoid violating the law. Problem with people like hunter is that they expect to be treated with kid gloves so they take shortcuts. $1.3 million in back taxes isn't a "whoopsie" most people get away with, and they shouldn't. All Joe is showing America here is that the Biden's are rich people first and American citizens second.
Found Ben Shapiro' lemmy account.
But seriously this isn't a rich and powerful thing. Practically no one, from any background is given felony charges over what Hunter did.
I don't blame Biden for doing this. The qons will try to exact some extra-legal revenge on Hunter if they can get him into prison over his hard drive, er, I mean, "laptop".
Good, now do Snowden.
Never gonna happen. Snowden did at least break some laws.
I want him pardoned but no president ever will.
a pardon requires an admission of guilt.
well he doesn't deny he did it does he? He just claims he was justified in doing so.
the exact conditions for a pardon.
Good decision. Trump and his gang promised all kinds of revenge. They don't play by the rules. So it makes sense to do whatever for your last son.
Agreed. If Hunter Biden’s issues hadn’t been politically weaponized so much, I doubt Biden would have done it, but the truth is, with Trump coming in to office and threatening retaliation, it makes sense to pardon him.
The crimes Hunter was charged with are rarely enforced and rarely involve jail time. The Republican's made this a political circus that would have certainly had Hunter doing time. If it wasn't for that, Joe would not have needed to pardon him.
Yeah even the president isn't going to stand behind the American justice system.
Then pardon Vindman, Liz Cheney, and everyone else who didn't commit actual crimes that Trump will actually take revenge on too. Or just admit this is plain nepotism.
I voted for Harris, but I'm also sick of watching Biden single-handedly prop up MAGA with his ridiculous bullshit. And we're not doing ourselves any favors by trying to justify this - the election's over, we can stop pretending we like this guy now. Replace the failed leaders, yell at them until they go into the private sector. Now is the best time.
Well this is just plain nepotism. I don't think anyone is questioning that. Maga doesn't need any propping up, they won. They won by doing a lot more than nepotism and promising even more of it. It's what people want it seems.
A grandpa at the end of his life doing something for his only son, how does that even matter.
I think the issue a lot of us have with this is less that he's stooping to Trump's level, and more that he's only doing it to help his own family. Abusing the office of the president is apparently fine and good if its done on behalf of someone who's name is Biden, but the rest of the planet can get fucked.
Is he though? Isn't one of the purposes of presidential pardons to protect a person from unjust political persecution. If Republicans weren't Trump's party I would agree it's nepotism, but it is Trump's party who will be in power. Trump has vowed to seek revenge on his opponents. Joe Biden is too old to really be punished as much as the Republicans want him to be, but Hunter Biden has many years left. MAGA Republicans could punish him for their hate of his father for at least four years, if not the rest of his life. Isn't that one of the purposes of a presidential pardon?
Agreed. This gives Hunter the chance to maybe even move somewhere outside the country if he needs to.
I mostly agree. This is abuse of Presidential power so it is hypocritical for liberals to deny that... But, at the same time, if I were in Biden's situation I would likely do the same. And here is why:
It is his son. His last son. Of course any loving father will do whatever they can to protect their son.
Why should Democrats care what Republicans think? Democrats are getting curb stomped by fascists who give zero shit about the integrity of our institutions or abuse of political power. They truly don't. People voted for a pedophile felon traitorous oligarch. If you agree to an honorable sparring match of fisty-cuffs and your opponent pulls out a glock and shoots you in the knees and the crowd cheers for the cheater, do you have any moral or pragmatic reason to keep playing by the rules? No.
I mean… there’s another read on this whole thing, too: “huh, I guess everyone voted for nepotism and insider deals, so why the fuck not, especially in this context?”
Biden’s just giving the electorate a preview of what they voted for.
Good decision. Trump and his gang promised all kinds of revenge. They don’t play by the rules. So it makes sense to do whatever for your last son.
I would hope those that oppose Trump do not just adopt all his behaviors.
I mean I fucking hate Biden's guts but it literally makes no sense to leave his son at the ~~victim~~ mercy of Trump. Whatever Hunter was getting was never going to be justice either way.
Edit: I Engrished.
Didn't the Justice Department originally decide not to pursue charges until Republicans threw a fit? Seems like it was already a politically motivated prosecution, so I have no issues with a political pardon.
This shows that none of the 2 parties believe that the democratic system in the USA works anymore.
Which means, it's dead now.
It’s been dead for a little bit
Biden winning in 2020 gave us hope that people were realizing that fascists are full of shit and that they lie about everything, but Trump winning last month has shattered any faith or hope I had left in our two party system. It is hard to believe in a system when people are relentlessly assaulted with right wing propaganda year after year and then ultimately vote for a convicted felon pedo traitorous oligarch who denies climate science.
If the republicans don’t like this, the democrats will happily support a supermajority legislature vote that starts limiting executive power.
Sure wish anyfuckingbody with power cared about helping THE ACTUAL COUNTRY WHILE THERE'S STILL TIME
Tough on crime, except when it's his nepobaby.
Biden knows they will come after himself but he's too old so they will slam the hammer on his son with the maximum force they can get out of it, this is a good way to thwart that political attack.
Also, someone should remind Trump that he handled firearms after he was convicted of a felony and was not prosecuted for that ...
Though I don't think the importance of that fact will dawn on Trump, he never felt rules applied to him.
Despite what Biden may try and spin this as, this is not just about the (aggressively politicized and pursued) 4473 ‘unlawful user’ perjury charge - otherwise why include the years prior to that act?
President Joe Biden’s son is charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days in Delaware
Because Biden pardoned him from 2014 to present, it also includes the known tax evasion and FARA illicit lobbying concerns.
The Justice Department on Tuesday [June 18th 2023] said the investigation into Hunter Biden was “ongoing” even as it announced terms of a plea agreement [for gun and tax charges]
DoJ felt that there was more to investigate even if the tax and gun charges were covered in a plea deal. Read: there’s something there regarding Hunter’s lobbying efforts - and from internal Burisma emails he knew about the law and FARA concerns.
In the same April 2014 email, Hunter Biden indicated that Burisma’s officials “need to know in no uncertain terms that we will not and cannot intervene directly with domestic policymakers, and that we need to abide by FARA and any other U.S. laws in the strictest sense across the board.”
Biden is right that most 4473 charges would never get this far - what he’s cynically not pointing out (from the bully pulpit, lame duck or not) is the context of why prosecutors drop gun charges in plea deals or pursue maximal charges at trial, or the wider criminal case against his son.
The simple truth is, the entire case against Hunter Biden was politically motivated from the start.
He paid the back taxes and the gun charges are normally laughed out of court.
This was always a Republican prosecutor wanting to make a name for themselves, and with Trump taking power, well, we all know how vindictive Trump is.
I don't expect this pardon to matter much, Trump and the Republicans don't care about law or tradition or reality. They care about power, and are less than 2 months away from it.
You’re missing my point, Biden did not give his failson a targeted pardon nor a blanket universal pardon for his whole lifetime. The gun charge stems from a crime in 2018. The tax charge is from as early as 2015. The illegal lobbying/FARA investigation stretches to at least 2014. Witch hunt investigation or not, it was sustained into federal charges and was going to trial, out of a California and Delaware court - not Texas or Alabama.
If this pardon is just about the gun charge, as Biden alleges, why extend it back beyond 2018 and into 2014 when the alleged FARA/lobbying crimes were committed? Or if he’s so concerned about his son’s future unjust prosecution under a Trump DoJ, why is Biden blithely consenting to handing over power to Trump after the Supreme Court gave him near unlimited executive power?
Because Republicans will always just move the goal posts. Surprised he didn't pardon all crimes he did, including that messy diaper at 18 months old... Republicans will stoop to anything
It would have been nice if he could have used his presidential powers
to prevent the genocide...
So glad Biden is so concerned about following the law that protecting vulnerable people with his newly granted immunity is something he would never consider doing.
Nice. Hopefully Biden keeps doing more good shit in his remaining few weeks while the MAGAt snowflakes are triggered and distracted by Hunter's dick again.
Marge was particularly obsessed with that thing, lol.
Oh right, Republicans went after his family and he still picked Garland as his AG.
I'm not an American, and as such I don't think it's my thing to speak on so do not take this as an instructive comment, but I will reflect on it anyway. I believe that this was, on balance, a bad decision even if I understand it and can find good, honest reasons for Biden to do it. In the end, the POTUS has this power and is free to use it as the president wishes. I hope it will lead to something positive.
The fact that Trump has said that he might pardon Hunter and now is complaining about the fact that Biden did it himself shows once again how everything said by Donald is a convenient temporary truth. Even if this puts the light on Biden also being problematic with this behavior.
edit: a word
It's a poison pill for pardons. Either they are essentially absolute and irreversible, or they aren't and all of the ones Trump made and will make are up for debate. He can grumble all he wants but for Trump to call this pardon "such an abuse and miscarriage of justice" is absolutely laughable given the decade of insanity and illegal stuff coming out of his orange anus. The toilet photo of all the documents should have been enough to jail this man for life in a black site but I guess justice is a miscarriage after all.
Justice is the one abortion of which they approve.
Biden lied about not pardoning his son shocker. The guy is a lying scumbag.
Hope he continues the trend. Id love a full send on dark brandon EOs
didn't we, i of course mean the people who showed up, vote for this very kind of behaviour in the last presidential election? what's sauce for the goose...
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