It is no longer news that President Joe Biden of the United States of America, USA on Sunday granted his son, Hunter Biden full and unconditional state pardon just the next day after US President-elect, Donald Trump picked Kash Patel as next Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI with President Biden accusing the judiciary of playing to the gallery of his political opponents to have selectively and unfairly prosecuted his son, Hunter with a view to break him and his family.
President Joe Biden who had lost two sons to death, said, the judiciary was biased not to allow the negotiated plea bargain in the case of Hunter same way the judiciary had permitted plea bargain in other cases of tax evasions, gun charges similar to that of Hunter Biden.
President Joe Biden who had in several occasions said he will not grant Presidential pardon to his son, Hunter, said, he believes Americans would understand his Sunday decision to grant Hunter pardon he described as someone who have suffered selective and unfair prosecution, sober for over five years simply because his the President’s son. Adding, the judiciary could have been fair enough if the judge had permitted plea bargain.
In a swift reaction, Newsweek reported that the Special counsel in Hunter Biden case, David Weiss objected to the dismissal of Hunter Biden’s tax charges as he pushed back on President Joe Biden’s claims that his son was politically, selectively and unfairly prosecuted.
Weiss said “never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case.” Weiss objected to the dismissal of Hunter’s tax case in a legal filing where he argued there was no legal precedent for dismissal of an indictment, only the punishment. “A pardon does not blot out guilt or expunge a judgment of conviction,” Weiss said. “It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive.”
Hunter had been scheduled to be sentenced later this month for gun charges and tax evasion. The pardon has been hugely divisive with many of Biden’s own party criticizing him for issuing it after pledging he would never do so.
The pardon came, after US President-elect, Donald Trump aims to make loyalist Kash Patel the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He made the announcement on Saturday, in a move that would mean replacing the agency’s current leader.
Trump announced the former advisor and Pentagon official, who has been critical of the bureau and is known for his controversial views on a so-called government “deep state,” as his choice for the post on his Truth Social network.
The FBI’s current director, Christopher Wray, was appointed to a 10-year term in 2017, meaning he would either need to step down or be fired.
The FBI under Wray — who Trump appointed — has investigated the incoming president, sparking Trump’s ire.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
A fierce defender of the incoming president, Patel supports the Republican hardliner notion of an anti-Trump “deep state” of allegedly biased government bureaucrats working to stifle Trump from behind the scenes, even having written a book on the subject.
A son of Indian immigrants, Patel served in several high-level posts during Trump’s first term including as a national security advisor and as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.
“Kash did an incredible job during my First Term,” Trump said, adding that the nominee would work to “end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border.”
Wray was tapped by Trump during his first term, replacing an acting director after Trump fired former FBI director James Comey.
Comey had angered Trump with an FBI investigation into the president’s extensive ties to Russia.
The FBI under Wray went on to investigate Trump himself — searching his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 for illegally retained top secret documents.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden wife, Jill, says she support the pardon of her son. She was confronted with a question if “she support her husband pardon to her son, Hunter” while she was on the stage having handshakes with some participants at an events. She initially didn’t respond to the question, and moved away from the direction of the person askin the question, she continued exchanging pleasantries with guests but the question kept echoing and repeating, forcing her to walk stylishly to the stage podium mic stand, and says, “Of course, I support the pardon of my son”.
Politico news network reported that the Hunter Biden’s pardon looks a lot like Richard Nixon’s. The media went further to say that President Joe Biden’s grant of clemency on Sunday night – an extraordinary political act with extraordinary legal breadth – insulates his son from ever facing federal charges over any crimes he possibly could have committed over the past decade.
Experts on pardons said they could only think of one other person who has received such a sweeping presidential pardon: Nixon, who was given a blanket pardon in 1974 by Gerald Ford.
Biden’s “full and unconditional pardon” of his son is deliberately vague. Donald Trump and his allies have long fixated on the president’s son, and Trump has repeatedly pledged to use his second term to investigate and prosecute members of the Biden family. Trump will not be able to undo the pardon when he takes office.
The Democratic president’s pardon comes as Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to go after his political opposition, prepares to take office January 20, 2025, according to International news agencies.
Responding, President-elect, Donald Trump asked if President Joe Biden’s pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, includes the rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2020.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”, Trump stated on Truth Social on Sunday after President Joe Biden granted the state Pardon to his son, Hunter after Hunter was found guilty over the summer of three felony counts related to the purchase and possession of a firearm while addicted to drugs. In September, the younger Biden agreed and pleaded guilty to nine tax-related charges, including three felonies. He would have faced up to 17 years in federal prison, according local observers in the US.
Meghan Hays, Democratic strategist and former senior communications aide to Biden says: “With some of the nominations that Trump has put up, I think it probably caused a little bit of worry for him. But also I think people have to remember: the president lost two children already and he does not need to lose another one.”
“The president made a decision as a father to keep his son out of jail and out of harm’s way moving forward … I think that some of these nominations that Trump has been putting forward and leaving this in the hands of other folks is worrisome to the president…
President(-elect) Trump and Kash Patel have said they are going to go after their political enemies, they’re going after retribution; I think that Hunter Biden has been seen as the person they’ve gone after many times, and I don’t think the president is going to leave that to chance when he leaves office”,
Chuck Grassley, Republican US Senator from Iowa on his X social media profile stated that; “I’m shocked President Biden pardoned his son Hunter because he said many many times he wouldn’t and I believed him, Shame on me”.
Jared Polis, Democratic Governor of Colorado said: “While as a father I certainly understand President Joe Biden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. When you become President, your role is Pater familias of the nation. Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son”.
Eric Holder, former US Attorney General under Democratic President Barack Obama stated that: “Here’s the reality. No US Attorney would have charged this case given the underlying facts. After a 5 year investigation, the facts as discovered only made that clear. Had his name been Joe Smith the resolution would have been – fundamentally and more fairly – a declination. Pardon warranted. Ask yourself a vastly more important question. Do you really think Kash Patel is qualified to lead the world’s preeminent law enforcement investigative organization? Obvious answer: hell no.”
White House Press Release on Sunday, President Joe Biden stated verbatim below:
“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 non-criminal 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 court room – 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”, President Joe Biden stated in quote according to the statement issued by the White House on Sunday”.