1 I don't care
2 Pres Biden has the Constitutional authority to pardon anyone he wants
3 Nobody but Biden's son would have been treated like Hunter & he's suffered enough
4 Trump's revenge-driven nominees change the future culture of law enforcement in the USA
5 Trump will do worse, get used to it
Now Trump will pardon every J6 domestic terrorist.
Garland’s refusal to immediately arrest & prosecute Donald Trump for dereliction of duty alone has set a dangerous precedent that will be incredibly difficult to reverse.
The next 4 years under Trump will accelerate America’s descent even faster.
It is reasonable to criticize the pardon. Though given Trump’s promises to exact revenge on enemies it is understandable. Also reliable narrators have pointed out had he not been the Pres son his treatment would be different
Any framing around “Biden Crime Family” is ridiculous & not serious.
Yes, and? What’s your point?
Oh, by the way, do you or Mr. Geraghy have a count on the times the newly elected president has lied? Just asking for some friends here…
He had no choice. Trump would have put Hunter in Gitmo or there would have been another Epstein “accident/suicide”. It was clear Hunter was not going to get fair treatment. I think Patel as the FBI nominee was the final straw. This decision likely saved Hunter’s life.
The tactical situation changed when Trump got elected: Hunter now faces a Republican government led by a man who has already tried to use the Justice Department to attack his perceived enemies regardless of the facts. A blanket pardon is possibly the only effective defense against that threat.
We are not living in normal times. If he didn’t pardon his son, the Trump regime would never let up. Let’s remember what the former president has done and has promised to do.
Honestly, as the orange felon’s cabinet picks escalate to the absurdly dangerous, it follows that Biden may have to pivot to keep lots of people safe from magat revenge - I don’t know - like journalists and potentially innocent people on death row? Naming the ethics appt is 1 such act.
Former federal prosecutor Harry Litman: "But in fact, President Biden’s pardon was justified and falls within the heartland of executive clemency cases. A clear-eyed analysis of the facts, the law, and, crucially, DOJ standard practice in Hunter Biden’s case establishes this."
Biden’s Presidency started with him denying the existence of Hunter’s laptop and is ending with Biden pardoning Hunter for all the things found on his laptop.
The Bidens are corrupt as hell. No wonder we sent over 200 billion to Ukraine. The same people who bribed Hunter & Joe.
Your claim, "the Bidens are corrupt as hell" is a straight-forward lie, and it is unsupported by so much as a shred of objectively-verifiable, believable evidence.
You claim is simply rote MAGA disinformation, meant to distract people from Trump's many real crimes, and should be regarded as such.
Once it was clear that the trump administration's DOJ was going to pursue retribution the only moral thing was to pardon him. Changing circumstances changes minds, and that's as it should be.
Oh really, just stuff it. At least one less person in this country has to suffer at the hands of those insufferable fools. I will go mute this thread now. Don’t want to hear this bullshit.
Yes, of course. The maga gang commits and gets away with crime after crime and the Democrats are not allowed any move that might call into question their morals. Why publish and magnify this nonsense? You may be part of the problem.
I would ask why you don’t quantify Trumps lies, but I have been asking that for 9 years. Go pound salt with your pompous judgement! Trump is the one who is above the law. You sound foolish. DO YOUR JOB.
Brilliant swipe at Trump. Trump and his supporters have been crying that he’s the victim of “lawfare”.
In Joe Biden’s statement, he clearly pointed out that it was he and his family who have been the subjects of politically motivated investigations and prosecution.
The Supreme Court came to dotard dons defense. He's going to pardon J6 criminals and they're crying about Hunter Biden? Roger Stone and Steve Bannon have flouted the law and got pardons. Please.
Conditions have changed, new evidence have emerged; therefore, we should adapt/change past statements or decisions without changing our moral/ethical values.
David, like so many,Biden trusted the system to be fair & balanced in their decision, not knife justice in the back to appease conservatives. Biden was put in an impossible situation & had to stand up for a man who happens to be his son.DOJ was cruel & disgusting. #ClaireMcCaskillWrongAboutBiden
Jim Geraghy thinks gaslighting is good journalism.I can count 20 times Trump promised his tax returns, healthcare, knew nothing about 2025, He would make Mexico build a wall-come on! Do better.
meanwhile, t***p pardoned a jillion people in his inner circle, who acted as foreign agents, etc. Absolutely insane, isn’t it? Dems get pounded for everything they do, while R’s deconstruct democracy and hardly get called on it. Sick.
I have every sympathy for Biden as a father. His claim that Hunter is being treated unusually harshly seems very plausible. But this is bad news for the constitutional norms of the republic (as well as the Dems’ attack lines).
Crime family? What a joke. He lied about being an addict to buy a gun and cheated a little on his taxes. He’s not Al Capone. The country doesn’t give AF about the “rule of law.” Why should Joe Biden sacrifice his son on this stupid alter. No one cares.
Trump was the one who set the precedent not Biden and only Trump has promised vengeance for slights that are a figment of his imagination. Although I don't like it, it makes sense for Biden to try to protect Hunter after the people decided to elect a criminal who tried to overturn an election.
How many times did Trump promise to report his taxes?
Did not SCOTUS say (of Trump) Presidents have immunity? Didn’t Jack Smith just end his investigation into the insurrection? So of course *he* is above the law, so miss us with that no one argument.
I can't imagine serving my son up to be a sacrificial lamb at the hands of Trump, regardless of any past statements. Many feel it is important to let the legal wrangling play out, but I am past the point of thinking Trump's justice department will have any legitimacy.
The sad reality after watching Trump abuse the US Justice system for 8 years, with the help of the US Supreme Court, is that President Biden could not trust the US justice system under Trump.
This right here is why the media is losing all relevancy. As if the entire prosecution started by Trump wasn't corrupt as hell and now that he's back he didn't nominate people who will pick up where they left off and trump up even more corrupt charges to exact his revenge.
So what? He was unjustly targeted and the rules don’t apply to Trump or maga, so I’m glad he pardoned Hunter. I don’t care how many times he said he wouldn’t.
Quit reposting this tripe. The GOP is a bumbling crime circus fleecing rubes and raiding the treasury. Buying in to, or worse repeating, the manufactured noise they use for cover is complicity.
Oh, for Zarqon's sake, can we not pollute our timeline with these odious takes from shills for the Federalist Society? If Biden is as diminished as the haters all claim, perhaps he forgot, eh?
everyone saying that PRESIDENT Joe Biden lied about pardoning his son, trump was CONVICTED by a jury of 34 felonies involving LYING. He owes hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments because he lied.
That’s rich, considering the pardons that trump made and will make again. Why does the media pass over trump and his deeds with just a few mentions and rags on Biden and his son forever?
Implicit in all this right wing outrage is the understanding that Trump can pardon anyone for anything including his son in law's father for arguably more heinous crimes but that's okay because he's Trump, but we expect decency from Biden
So? People voted against upholding norms. People got the new regime they wanted, and I hope Dems grow a spine for once.
People rejected the Democratic program of (unilaterally) abiding by norms, which included the promise not to pardon Hunter. Biden heard ppl, they are getting what they voted for.
People can change their minds under changing ‘circumstances’. Patel’s nomination to head the FBI constitutes sufficient changing ‘circumstances’ in my mind. How about yours?
How many times did Trump say he's pardon Hunter?https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/10/24/2024-elections-live-coverage-updates-analysis/donald-trump-pardon-hunter-biden-00185320
We are tired of trying to always take the moral high ground in the face of a party that cares zero about morality. Good on the Bidens. Now can we just leave them alone?
America elected a convicted felon.
That convicted felon pardoned his son-in-law’s father and appointed him Ambassador to France. If you support that, I don’t want to hear jack-shit about Biden pardoning his son.
That's fine, but we're better than them. I'm not judging all political actions by the Charles Kushner standard. I didn't spend years criticizing that man or the pardon he received, just to turn around and say "OK, fine, we'll just start doing that stuff too."
My point is, however you feel about the pardon, you should be looking to bad faith actors like Jim fucking Geraghty to shape the opinion. The anti antis are not a group to be taken at face value. Ever.
Agreed. But one can have their own problems with this pardon, and it doesn't make them a troll or a fake Democrat. I'm a lifelong liberal Democrat. This pardon really bothers me on the merits and on the politics. I'm seeing a ton of bad faith arguments in its defense that really don't hold up.
I look forward to the acknowledgment. Maybe a piece about why Americans, especially conservatives, shrug off those pardons as par for the course, but demand higher conduct from Biden. Even though they just collectively endorsed such corruption.
That's a dreadful standard though. And Biden is not "President of Hunter Biden", he is President of our country, and his powers are supposed to apply to all citizens without bias.
Hunter’s conviction was political persecution No other American would have been treated with such bias due to his Dad. That was not justice, it was weaponization to harm President Biden’s family.Biden did the right thing-the DOJ persecuted Hunter & gave Biden no choice.
Thousands of people are unfairly prosecuted and wrongfully convicted all the time in this country: most of them black, almost all of them poor. Biden didn't pardon *them* yesterday, because their last name isn't "Biden". THAT is the abuse of power. He did it because it is his son, and he could.
Cry me a river.Biden is not the bad guy here.You know very well it would take a long time to review every unjust incarceration for pardons but you criticize Joe for stopping this farce, & not wanting to see his son unjustly go to prison? Aim your wrath at the GOP for this witch hunt.
Hunter was unfairly prosecuted, but he *was* convicted, and Biden *did* say he would respect their decision. He never should have done that if this was his plan all along. Biden wanted the imprimatur of defending the impartiality of the justice system, until that was no longer operative.
True, but it has worsened under Trump. A growing majority of Americans don't believe in truth, science, fairness, respect or justice. For the new MAGA Christians, "let's go Brandon", "lock her up", "low IQ sleaze bag Kamala" is the new gospel. Scary. I would've pardoned my son like Joe.
Unfortunately, to foreign observers like me, the US legal system is more about politics, influence and money to pay lawyers, not justice. Self-protection is now the new standard.
That is one side's standard. If it becomes the standard for both sides, our democracy will flatten like a collapsed building. We're in a war for the salvation of our justice system. Throwing that system out is not the solution.
That was before Trump started naming psychopaths who will absolutely stop at nothing to achieve trump’s stated goal of total retribution. Now it would be insane not to pardon him.
I won’t block you yet but the situation has changed with the election of the felon so he had to pardon him as he would not have been treated fairly. Doesn’t matter if he said he wouldn’t. If Kamala had won, he likely wouldn’t have.
Recall the father who was ordered to crush his son with a two ton rock? He loved his son so much and was so intuitive that he arranged to have that rock pulverized into fine grains which he then poured over his son with no harm resulting. Can you imagine what Trump justice would do to Hunter?
In normal times I would agree with you. But with the reelection of Trump and what appears to be a weaponized DOJ and FBI, I’m sure Biden is doing what he can to protect his son from further prosecution.
So what? People change their minds all the time when confronted with new information. Nominating the guy, who has declared many times he is coming after Hunter, as FBI Director would be such information.
Well, that was before American voters revealed that character and integrity and honesty in a President mattered less than a bucket of spit. Different regime, different rules.
Biden changed his mind because the situation changed with Trump's unimaginable reelection and a dominant MAGA Senate and House. To abandon his son to the likelihood of more unjust, political persecution and prosecutions would have been like leaving him in a lions' den.
Joe's options were: let a clearly politically motivated prosecution stand so he could uphold the rule of law or remove this issue forever. Easy call for me as a a parent.
The country just elected a rapist/felon/thief. Any pretense that we respect the rule of law needs to be shed.
Did anyone believe it? No. Who WOULDN’T pardon their own child if they believed they had been rehabilitated AND they were the father of their grandchildren. No normal person. This is a non- issue. Trump has lied a million times. Focus on that, not NORMAL stuff human fathers do for their children.
So what?! Biden has a right to change his mind after assessing the growing political and physical threats from t****. Hunter paid his dues and more with the extended humiliation and harassment of Congress.
On behalf of POTUS, for any hypocritical criticism lobbed his way: Fuck all y'all.
He's an old man, in the twilight of his physical existence. He lost one son to cancer, and wants to save the other. Yes, he is reneguing on a promise, but we live in an age of broken promises. Trump is likely to pardon MAGA insurrectionists, and probably himself, if that is legally possible.
And the moment he knew that Kamala Harris wouldn’t be in charge of the DOJ, that calculus changed and rightly so. Hunter was a prime candidate for persecution. He may still be. But at least Joe tried to protect him from vengeance by DJT.
Are you proposing that Hunter should die for our sins? Democrats love deontological ethics. If you get burnt at the Stake to act as a model of virtue to an uncaring world, you will be dead, and nothing will change.
Are they really going to make an argument about lying or misrepresentation when they support Trump?! He did the right thing to protect his son and family from the psychotics that will be taking power.
Then a bunch of Trump loyalists were appointed for Cabinet positions to solely seek political retribution. Including, Kash Patel who’s stated his intention of pursuing charges against Hunter in already closed matters.
Mr. Frum, if you were in a similar situation with one of your children, what would you do? What would Jim Geraghy do? Even G*d didn't require Abraham to actually kill Isaac, even though He commanded it. Can you fault Joe Biden for being unable to deal the sacrificial blow?
And all the jags feel so heartbroken that the rules always playing to only one side of the field are now all justified. This is the one pardon that finally seems reasonable. As we send Charles Kushner as ambassador to France. Enough already.
I am saddened that Biden did what he did. It calls to mind the test that God put to Abraham. Who would have stayed the “hand” of Justice here? A jury? A judge?
OMFG. Do these Trump pardons ring a bell—Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Charles Kushner, Joe Arpaio, Eddie Gallagher (among others)? All Trump co-conspirators or loyalists who have done real damage to the US!
Now the media will spend more time covering our President changing his mind than the reasons why he changed his mind. And the media will continue to normalize everything the President-elect is saying and doing.
Biden should appoint Hunter to a cabinet post, not merely pardon him.
That’s my take, given Trump’s precedent.
But then I realized Hunter’s tax/gun issues aren’t sufficient qualifications - the Trump rule for cabinet positions requires a history of sexual assault or outright treasonous conduct.
What did you expect them to say? Trump was sharpening his knives to carve up Hunter Biden. Anyone else with the charges against him would have been long ago settled or dismissed. In this particular case, I think it was good that Biden made that decision. Trump is out for revenge
The issue here (as Biden The Elder surely knows), is that as of January 21, 2025, the Republican Party was planning a series of show trials designed to imprison Hunter Biden for life, as "payback" for Trump's (justified) prosecutions.
Well, anyone who hadn't already figured the quid pro quo here....that Harris promised to pardon him after her inauguration, in return for Biden's immediate and full-throated endorsement.....is pretty naive.
Comments
2 Pres Biden has the Constitutional authority to pardon anyone he wants
3 Nobody but Biden's son would have been treated like Hunter & he's suffered enough
4 Trump's revenge-driven nominees change the future culture of law enforcement in the USA
5 Trump will do worse, get used to it
Garland’s refusal to immediately arrest & prosecute Donald Trump for dereliction of duty alone has set a dangerous precedent that will be incredibly difficult to reverse.
The next 4 years under Trump will accelerate America’s descent even faster.
Any framing around “Biden Crime Family” is ridiculous & not serious.
This sounds like the crime of the century.
Oh, by the way, do you or Mr. Geraghy have a count on the times the newly elected president has lied? Just asking for some friends here…
Don’t you know by now not to trust politicians?
Seriously.
He could say it 100 times - who cares? Who TF cares?
What about Bannon and Stone and Flynn and all the rest? The actually GUILTY ones?
Why the f*ck shouldn’t he pardon him?
NIXON got one.
So until people see what a huge mistake that was … shut it.
The Bidens are corrupt as hell. No wonder we sent over 200 billion to Ukraine. The same people who bribed Hunter & Joe.
You claim is simply rote MAGA disinformation, meant to distract people from Trump's many real crimes, and should be regarded as such.
Fuck right off with this terrible and idiotic take.
I already knew this is what they would do.
In Joe Biden’s statement, he clearly pointed out that it was he and his family who have been the subjects of politically motivated investigations and prosecution.
Did not SCOTUS say (of Trump) Presidents have immunity? Didn’t Jack Smith just end his investigation into the insurrection? So of course *he* is above the law, so miss us with that no one argument.
How
It didn't change any of yours?
We are waiting for trump to pardon the J6 hostages and you think this is the hill to die on?
The rest of us know the the plea deal was scrapped for political reasons, how can you not?
So, really, eat a huge bowl of shut the fuck up.
Joe Arpaio
Dinesh D'Souza
Mike Flynn*
George Papadopoulos*
Roger Stone*
Paul Manafort*
Charles Kushner
Steve Bannon*
*Pardoned to obstruct justice
People rejected the Democratic program of (unilaterally) abiding by norms, which included the promise not to pardon Hunter. Biden heard ppl, they are getting what they voted for.
Seriously?
That convicted felon pardoned his son-in-law’s father and appointed him Ambassador to France. If you support that, I don’t want to hear jack-shit about Biden pardoning his son.
Maybe Biden doesn't want Hunter to "commit suicide" while in federal prison during a Trump presidency?
Get mad and stay mad, National Review. 🤷♂️
The country just elected a rapist/felon/thief. Any pretense that we respect the rule of law needs to be shed.
On behalf of POTUS, for any hypocritical criticism lobbed his way: Fuck all y'all.
Where's the outrage over Trump's pardons?
This bullshit in the media of holding Biden to a different standard got us to this insane place.
That’s my take, given Trump’s precedent.
But then I realized Hunter’s tax/gun issues aren’t sufficient qualifications - the Trump rule for cabinet positions requires a history of sexual assault or outright treasonous conduct.
The pardon was meant to nullify a witch hunt.
Good.
...world recoils in horror'