Biden's blanket pardon of son Hunter proves what we knew all along: He's a liar | Opinion
Joe Biden has repeatedly lied to Americans about matters of major importance, from his ability to continue as president to his plans for giving Hunter special treatment.
There was no better way for President Joe Biden to cement his legacy.
In pardoning his son Hunter Biden, the president showed the country on Sunday who he was one last time before leaving office.
A liar.
For months, the elder Biden had promised the American people that he wouldn’t give his son any special favors. Hunter this year was convicted of federal gun felonies and federal tax evasion charges and was just days from sentencing.
As recently as last month, Biden maintained he wouldn’t use his executive authority to benefit his son.
“We’ve been asked that question multiple times and our answer stands − which is no,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Nov. 7.
After the Thanksgiving holiday, however, the president supposedly had a massive change of heart. Yet, I think this is what Biden had planned to do all along, and it belies Biden’s repeated pledges of “honesty” and “decency.”
“For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth,” Biden claimed in his statement about pardoning his son.
In his four years as president, Biden has done the opposite: He’s repeatedly lied to the country about matters of major importance, from his ability to continue as president to his plans for giving Hunter special treatment.
And that’s how he’ll be remembered.
Sweeping pardon protects the whole shady Biden family
Biden sought to appeal to Americans’ heartstrings by playing up the family ties.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden wrote.
Perhaps they would have if Biden had been more forthcoming about his plans from the beginning. The fact that he intentionally misled voters when it was politically expedient for him to do so is another thing altogether.
Recall that just weeks before Hunter’s first conviction in the gun case in June, former President (now President-elect) Donald Trump was convicted of federal charges in a hush money trial.
Biden at the time of Trump’s conviction preached on social media that “no one is above the law.”
We now know that statement comes with a huge asterisk when it pertains to the Biden family.
Biden’s pardon of Hunter also goes much further than just his recent convictions. It also covers “those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
The sweeping nature of the pardon quashes any further investigation into Hunter’s shady foreign business deals and alleged influence peddling operation, including when his father was still vice president.
Republicans in Congress have sought to tie the Biden family “business” to the president himself, so it doesn’t take too much imagination to realize how this pardon also helps President Biden.
Americans didn't buy Biden's lies. That's why we got Trump.
Democrats are still in shock that they lost the election in such resounding fashion. But the writing was on the wall for a long time.
President Biden lost the trust of voters months ago, when he refused to admit his declining physical and mental health. While it was obvious to the country that he shouldn’t be running for a second term, Biden, his family and a complicit legacy news media tried to gaslight citizens.
After Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump in June, the charade was up, and in a matter of weeks, Biden left the race.
His late-in-the-game decision left Democrats with little other option than Vice President Kamala Harris. And we saw how well that worked out.
Throughout his political career, Joe Biden has tried to appeal to voters as the “nice guy” in the room. His actions, though, prove the opposite.
And his pardon of Hunter reveals for a final time who Biden really is.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at Paste BN. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques