‘I Hope Americans Will Understand’: Biden Pardons His Son Hunter |
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases,” said the president, “can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-pardon-hunter

47 comments

  1. Why not? What does he care? He’s on his way out.

  2. My take on this is who gives a flying fuck the incoming administration wants to set up a network of concentration camps and make everything 50% more expensive.

  3. >In reality, few people fitting Mr. Biden’s profile — a first-time, nonviolent offender accused of lying on a federal firearms application, who never used the gun (in his case, a Colt Cobra .38 that he held onto for less than two weeks five years ago) to commit a crime — get serious prison time for the offenses charged in the indictment.

    >Just bringing the charges is out of the ordinary in some ways, former law enforcement officials say, and the legal basis of the prosecution is under constitutional challenge…

    >A substantial percentage of those accused of lying on a federal firearms application, like Mr. Biden has been, are not indicted on that charge unless they are also accused of a more serious underlying crime, current and former law enforcement officials said. Most negotiate deals that include probation and enrollment in programs that include counseling, monitoring and regular drug testing.

    >“It is rare as a stand-alone,” said John P. Fishwick Jr., who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2015 to 2017. “These charges are usually brought against convicted felons who illegally possess a gun or who commit a violent or drug-related charge.”

    >Prosecutions for lying to a dealer are relatively rare, averaging [fewer than 300 per year](https://archive.ph/o/XkhpL/https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22015885-glenn-kessler-records-re-922a6-prosecutions). There were some 25 million to 30 million background checks performed annually around the time of Mr. Biden’s gun purchase, according to statistics [obtained by The Washington Post](https://archive.ph/o/XkhpL/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/09/lying-atf-gun-purchase-form-yields-few-prosecutions-new-data-shows/).

    >Charges of illegal firearms possession are much more common. But they too are most often used as an add-on, to leverage plea deals or to ensure that a defendant is convicted on at least one charge if there are doubts that they will be convicted on an underlying charge, Mr. Fishwick and other former prosecutors said.

    >In May, for example, when [more than 20 people](https://archive.ph/o/XkhpL/https://www.atf.gov/news/pr/multiple-defendants-sentenced-or-enter-guilty-pleas-federal-firearms-charges) in Savannah were sentenced to from 10 months to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to illegal firearms possession, all of them had criminal records or were caught in the act of committing another crime.

    >When officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reviewed Hunter Biden’s gun application several years ago, they believed the case most likely would have been dropped if the target were a lesser-known person — because the gun had not been used in a crime and Mr. Biden had taken steps to get and stay sober, according to a former law enforcement official familiar with the situation.

    [The Gun Charges Against Hunter Biden Are Unusual. Here’s Why. – The New York Times](https://archive.ph/XkhpL)

  4. He can’t be the ambassador to France now. You need to serve jail time before the pardon to qualify

  5. Any parent in his position would have done the same thing. I’m glad he did it and would have been disappointed if he didn’t.

  6. Do whatever you want Joe. Trump and his minions are above the law, so, fuck it. When in Rome, eh?

  7. Yeah, if Trump reported and was doing his time, I’d have a problem with this. But since Trump won’t be facing justice for his crimes, plus he’s probably going to pardon all the Jan 6 convicts, this is probably as close to justice as we’ll see.

    To be clear, it would be ideal if they were all doing their time.

  8. If we are pardoning 6-JAN traitors why not pardon Hunter?

  10. Good, fuck it at this point. Burn the house down on the way out for all I fucking care now.

  12. I fully support it because otherwise crazy republican congresspeople are going to turn the next 4 years into an investigation of everything and anything Hunter did in the last 3 decades, despite the fact that he does not hold, has never held, and has never sought to hold, public office. This is because Republicans have no ethos outside contempt for both their constituents and political adversaries. I don’t want anything distracting from the Republicans constant unwillingness to simply govern earnestly, as it speaks to the fact that they’re utterly incapable of responsible government in the first place.

  13. I completely understand. By the way, look at who Trump proposes for French ambassador. He can’t even speak French.

  14. That’s true. Also it just doesn’t matter anymore. The country is broken. Americans like corruption and cheating. 

  15. Just because he was singled out doesn’t mean he didn’t commit a crime…

  16. Now for sure I will never vote Hunter Biden for President.

  17. It goes to show that there are two systems of justice.

    However, given Trump’s clearly stated intention to weaponize the federal justice system against anyone perceived as an enemy of Trump, I think this was prudent. You know they’d work overtime to screw Hunter Biden were he subject to their jurisdiction.

  21. And if they don’t understand, FUCK THEM. With all the shit that we’re about to live through…yeah, fuck them.

  22. The only thing for sure is that the vast majority of people are not these people. None of us would benefit from Biden or Trumps mercy. Though I don’t blame Biden, I dont pretend for a second he would give a shit if it was me.

  25. He’s not wrong. Fox News made him a whipping boy for his dads administration for years

  28. 1. Joe shouldn’t have done it, simply because he already said he wouldn’t.

    2. It’s hard to blame him for doing it anyway. That’s his son, and what he says about Hunter being unfairly singled out is pretty blatantly true.

    3. Regardless of points 1 or 2, I could not give a single fuck at this point. Hunter Biden is 100% irrelevant to the fascist hell we’re about to live(?) through, and all my attention is on that.

  29. Wait until trump pardons all the Jan 6 insurrectionists.

  30. Biden will violate norms for his son, but not the American people

  31. Finally; justice has been serve. Totally agree with President Biden; it’s been long overdue. The only reason his son was convicted and or charged was because Hunter was his son. As a citizen it has been shocking to witness the level of cruelty that was unleashed by the orange turd reign.

  32. “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.”

    It’s a pretty damning inditement of America’s justice system where a sitting US president says that he does not trust the system to be just or apolitical.

  33. presidents should not be able to pardon their relatives… major conflict of interest.

  34. I understand Biden’s decision, and I’m fully in support.

    In a world where the rule of law and decorum and norms are valued, I wouldn’t. But we’re about to enter a country beyond those things, and when those things don’t matter in the future you gotta protect what you can.

    Without this pardon Hunter could be subjected to anything except what could be considered justice. A man has to protect his son from the insanity while he can. I just hope it even matters

  35. I don’t give a fuck what the assholes that voted for trump think.

  36. Tbh, Biden probably should have just said, “Fuck you, why not?”

  37. His problem is that he has always played his politics like there are reasonable people in the gop. There’s aren’t anymore, it’s just a christian nationalist cult and that’s it.

  38. Republicans would have done it if it was Biden’s second nephew once removed

  39. Trump would have done the same thing anyway. Glad to see Joe play hard ball for once.

  40. This is what a corrupt democracy looks like!

    Definite proof the USA is morally broke.

  41. Presidents are kings now, ya know. You may hate it today, hate it tomorrow too.

  42. Joe doesn’t care anymore so he’s doing what he can with what he last left

  43. I really bristled at the headline, but after reading the full statement, i think what really disgusts me is this country right now. Biden is absolutely right that GOP politicians meddled to prevent the justice system from treating his son fairly. Without a biased Trump appointee judge corrupted by outside political influnces, this would have been over by now.

    Read the statement. None of it’s a lie.

  44. But a, soon to be, 12 years witch hunt against Trump to make something, **anything**, stick is A-Okay.

  45. Honestly if Hunter did something really bad (which he didnt) and Biden pardoned him, I wouldn’t blame him one bit.

    Trump pardoned some really terrible people and got away with serious crimes unpunished himself.

    So screw it. Have fun.

  46. Biden should have done this sooo much sooner.

    And saying the US legal system is flawed.

    Trump got elected, because he was always repeating this.

  47. I’m still waiting for the gop ti be charged for show his junk all over tv

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