At least one congressional Democrat is arguing that, because Republicans are bad, it’s okay for President Joe Biden to pardon his son Hunter.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said that, because President-elect Donald Trump is a convicted felon and some of his proposed and withdrawn Cabinet nominees have faced claims of sex crimes, critics of Biden’s decision should think twice.
“I will say ‘way to go, Joe,’” Crockett told MSNBC’s Ayman on Sunday, hailing Biden’s decision to use his executive authority to pardon his son after he repeatedly said he wouldn’t. “Let me be first to congratulate the president.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“At the end of the day, we know that we have a 34-count convicted felon that is about to walk into the White House,” she said. “So for anyone that wants to clutch their pearls now because he decided that he was going to pardon his son, I would say take a look in the mirror because we also know that when it comes to this Cabinet, this Cabinet has more people accused of sexual assault than any incoming Cabinet probably in the history of America.”
Crockett was likely referring to Trump’s planned defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017. He was not charged following a police investigation and said the account was consensual.
As well, Trump’s former pick for attorney general Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration after outrage over a House Ethics Committee report that probed allegations he paid for sex and slept with a 17-year-old. He denies the allegations.
Trump himself has also been accused of sexual misconduct by over two dozen women.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 for a federal gun charges conviction, as well as on on Dec. 16 for federal tax evasion charges to which he pled guilty earlier this year.
“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,” President Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon. “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."
He added that his son had been prosecuted “without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser,” noting “people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.”
He also stated, alluding to the circumstances of his son’s tax evasion case, “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.”
Republicans spent years focusing obsessively on Hunter Biden’s personal struggles—his personal relationships and a previous addiction to crack cocaine—to try and tarnish his father’s political standing.
The Biden family, namely Hunter, also denied GOP allegations his dealings with businessmen in China and Ukraine were somehow tied to an unscrupulous attempt to trade on his father’s position for personal gain.
“We are living in unprecedented times, and we know that this was completely political,” said Crockett. “As someone who serves on the Oversight Committee, this was gamesmanship the entire time and we know that this investigation had been taking place for five or six years. We know Hunter had accepted responsibility and it was the Oversight Committee that was pushing to try to say ‘no, it wasn’t enough’ and ultimately the judge decided to reject the plea.
“And so, considering what took place and considering where we are in this country, I say: way to go, Joe.”
Crockett added that she hopes to work with Biden’s administration in the remaining weeks of his presidency to secure clemency for crack cocaine offenders who were sent to jail in the past when sentencing laws were harsher.
Not all Democrats agreed. Colorado Governor Jared Polis tweeted, of Biden: “I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country.”
He added: “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.”
