In short:
Outgoing US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, saying “raw politics … led to a miscarriage of justice”.
Hunter Biden was convicted of gun charges and tax evasion and was facing sentencing hearings scheduled for mid-December.
Joe Biden said he made the decision over the weekend while spending the Thanksgiving holiday with his family.
If Trump hadn’t won the election, I would disapprove of this action. But he did and he has promised to weaponize the DOJ, so this is the smart move.
If Trump hadn’t won the election, I would disapprove of this action.
If this was using presidential dictatorship to pardon someone actually meaningful or forcing through progressive legislation, I would say it’s fine, but this is just run-of-the-mill corruption as far as I can tell (but I don’t follow this celebrity drama closely so maybe there’s more to it).
The only silver lining I see is that it proves Biden is willing to use their presidential powers, and we get to see their true colours once more in how they choose to and choose not to use them. If they don’t use this powers to try and stop Republican terror, then we know they’re complicit.
The pardon was because the Republicans undid his plea deal that the department of justice had agreed to. THAT was corruption. Political opponents should not be able to break up an already done pleas deal. The plea deal was fair and Biden said as much, but when Republicans broke up the deal, that’s when he decided to issue the pardon.
You really should read more than the headline.
You really should read more than the headline.
You’re right, and often I do, but I just don’t see the point in putting that effort into the US political spectacle. Thanks for the details.
Hunter Biden was convicted and will be sentenced under Biden’s DOJ. I don’t see what Trump’s election has to do with it.
After a trump appointed judge killed the plea deal.
a trump appointed judge
Yeah, appointed by Trump in 2018.
killed the plea deal
Yeah, they killed the deal in July.
So again, I can’t see how Trump’s inauguration in January, and any ‘weaponising of the DOJ’ that would occur after that, could have any bearing on Hunter’s conviction earlier this year, and sentencing this month.
Trump appointed judges are likely to be loyal to trump, like that loose cannon which delayed trumps document case. So pressure from the trump team derailed the plea deal and and made it impossible for hunter to get a fair trial, especially under a trump doj. If he wasn’t joe bidens son he probably would have never gone to trial.
The comment I was originally responding to said:
If Trump hadn’t won the election, I would disapprove of this action. But he did and he has promised to weaponize the DOJ, so this is the smart move.
That is what I was responding to.
So your responses, correct or not, are not relevant to my comment or the comment I was responding to.
You said:
So pressure from the trump team derailed the plea deal and and made it impossible for hunter to get a fair trial
If that is what happened, it happened before Trump got elected.
especially under a trump doj.
Hunter has already been convicted, and will be sentenced this month under a Biden DOJ.
Under a harris doj you could expect a fairer trial than now under trump.
Are you one of those “the Trump admin doesn’t mean what it says” apologists?
It’s to stop him from coming after anything else they might trump up. (Weird that trump the verb is doubly appropriate.)
Smart choice.
He’s a lame duck, might as well.
If I were him, I also wouldn’t let my son fall in the hands of a justice department controlled by a wannabe dictator.
He’s about to control all three branches of government. The ‘wannabe’ part isn’t going to be there much longer.
But is he gonna be the dictator? Or is that vance since I have a feeling vance is gonna do a 25th.
If we have to live under Trump’s weaponized justice department, Joe Biden’s kids should too.
I understand the sentiment, but having hunter biden getting tortured by trump’s DoJ isn’t gonna make our suffering any less bad.
Like I’m not exactly “happy” that he did that, nor am I “angry” about it. I just look at this and go “understandable, I would’ve done the same in his shoes”.
Ahh - US politics. You’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Weird that he’s been pardoned for buying a gun and evading taxes. I thought those things were supposed to be rights in the USA.
Weird that he’s been pardoned for buying a gun and evading taxes. I thought those things were supposed to be rights in the USA.
Gun rights and tax evasion are privileges!
spoiler
- People and companies rich enough are avoided by the IRS as it’s too much work to put a case against them. Taxes for the poor, not the powerful.
- Gun control legislation has repeatedly been enacted after anti-slavery, worker strikes (during red scare) or when minority groups armed themselves (The Mulford Act, which even the NRA supported). Gun control for the poor, not the powerful.
It’s a big club, and we ain’t in it.
Please up vote this for the sake of visibility. It is clear that people here did not read the statement by Biden nor did they actually read the article.
The pardon was because the Republicans undid his[Hunter Biden] plea deal that the department of justice had agreed to. THAT was corruption. Political opponents should not be able to break up an already done pleas deal. The plea deal was fair and Biden said as much, but when Republicans broke up the deal, that’s when he decided to issue the pardon.
You really should read more than the headline.
Your conclusions aside, I think it’s fair to say people should read not only more than the headline, but more than this article or the statement by Biden.
For those interested, here is one reasonably expansive account: https://web.archive.org/web/20241202032428/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/us/politics/inside-hunter-biden-plea-deal.html
Biden could be doing wild shit with the bully pulpit right now. He’s doing this instead. Sure, its a pen stroke, but bruh doesn’t give a shit about the republic.
In 4 years:
“Make me president for life and I will pardon you all!”
deleted by creator
This is a small step in the right direction.
However… anyone who isn’t fooling themselves knows it won’t matter by itself.
I’d be surprised if any of the Bidens are still alive in 4 years. The Trump admin has admitted they intend to go after anyone who defended the Bidens, including governors. If governors are at risk, I doubt family members are off the table.
Good.
Honestly he was president, his career and likely American democracy is over. I’d be saving my sons ass at the last minute too.
Is it corrupt as shit? Sure. But thats Americas new (at least openly) normal. I couldnt care less about this.
Sycophant.
Let’s hope that Joe delivers that pardon and Hunter accepts it before Trump takes office. Then again, with the state of our government, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Supreme Court decided to throw away precedent.
https://www.thisnation.com/government/learn/can-a-presidential-pardon-be-reversed/
The Supreme Court isn’t going to do that. Art. 2 Sec. 2 and the 5A’s double jeopardy clauses are quite clear on the matter.
They’d sooner overrule Wickard v. Filburn than do that.
They wont do it because it would set precident for if the dems ever do get back into power to do it right back to them.
I doubt double jeopardy applies, because that would mean they’d charge and prosecute him again. Reversing a pardon has nothing to do with prosecution.
Also there is nothing in the constitution that states a pardon is final. Only the Supreme Court has said that, and we all know that a later Supreme Court can (and has) overrule a previous Supreme Court decision.
And Wickard v. Filburn is a red herring.
“nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb;”
The double jeopardy clause doesn’t limit itself to only prohibiting second prosecutions. Once a case has been prosecuted to conclusion the defendant may not be made subject to the punishment again. A pardon terminating a punishment, would forestall recision as that would be once again subjecting the defendant for the same offensive.
