Backlash began after President Joe Biden announced Sunday afternoon that he had pardoned his son Hunter Biden for his tax evasion and federal weapons charges.
A setback for the presidentThe pardon came two weeks before her son’s sentencing in both cases: on Dec. 12 on gun-related charges in Delaware, and on Dec. 16 on tax charges in California.
Hunter Biden released a statement immediately after the pardon, saying in part, “I will never take the grace I have been given today for granted and I will dedicate my rebuilt life to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Soon after, his sister, Ashley Biden, published her stories on Instagram: “Thank you, father! What they tried to do to my brother is cruel + politically motivated. period Proud sister + daughter!”
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, arrives behind closed doors before the House Judiciary and Senate committees on Capitol Hill N in Washington, Feb. 28, 2024.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
However, there was a less receptive response from Washington DC
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, said President Biden “lied from start to finish” about his son’s case.
In a statement on Sunday, he said: “Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities. He has not falsely said that he never met with his son’s foreign business associates and that his son did nothing wrong, but he has he lied. but he also lied when he said he wouldn’t forgive Hunter Biden.”
“The charges that Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg of the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family lied to the American people about,” he added. “It’s unfortunate that instead of cleaning up decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”
And President of the Judiciary Jim Jordan Posted in X: “Democrats said there was nothing in our impeachment inquiry. If that’s the case, why did Joe Biden give to Hunter Biden for the things we were asking about?
President Joe Biden with Hunter Biden leaves a bookstore in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 29, 2024.
Craig Hudson/Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed pardon brought back those arrested for attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — he called them the “J-6 hostages.”
“Does Joe’s apology to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, now imprisoned for years? Such a travesty and miscarriage of justice!” Posted on Truth Social.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump, also responded indirectly, giving a statement to ABC News that said the situation shows the Justice Department had weaponized the justice system, before adding that Trump wants to fix that. his second term in the White House.
“The failed witch hunt against President Trump has proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” the statement said.
“That justice system needs to be fixed and due process restored for all Americans, and that’s what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House with a tremendous mandate from the American people,” he continued.
House Democrat Greg Stanton of Arizona said in a statement publish in X that he disagrees with President Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter Biden, becoming the first House Democrat to publicly disagree with the president on the decision.
He wrote: “I respect President Biden, but I think he’s got it wrong.”
“This was not a politically motivated indictment. Hunter committed crimes, and was convicted by a jury of his peers,” Stanton added.
Spokesmen for Special Counsel David Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland did not immediately respond to Hunter Biden’s apology when reached by ABC News on Sunday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
