The media world on Monday was all in with the news that broke late Sunday night when President Joe Biden announced a full and unconditional pardon of his son, Hunter. The pardon includes a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun and for tax evasion.
President Biden said, in part, in a statement, “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. 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.”
On Monday, the media world went into overdrive with its analysis of the news. The cable news networks were especially on top of it, with CNN leading the way with plenty of hot takes.
The New York Times’ Peter Baker wrote, “In pardoning his son Hunter Biden on Sunday night, the incumbent president sounded a lot like his successor by complaining about selective prosecution and political pressure, questioning the fairness of a system that Mr. Biden had until now long defended.”
The headline on Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens’ column called the pardon “disgraceful.” Stephens wrote, “If Democrats want to understand one of the reasons the Republican Party is ascendant, they can look to President Biden’s pardon on Sunday for his son Hunter. In its rank mendacity, political hypocrisy, naked self-dealing and wretched example, it typifies so much of what so many Americans have come to detest about what the MAGA world calls ‘the swamp.’”
Stephens added, “What a degrading finale for Biden’s feeble, forgettable, frequently foolish presidency.”
The editorial board of The Washington Post wrote, “To be clear: Mr. Biden had an unquestionable legal right to pardon his son Hunter. But in so doing on Sunday, he maligned the Justice Department and invited Mr. Trump to draw equivalence between the Hunter Biden pardon and any future moves Mr. Trump might take against the impartial administration of justice. He risks deepening many Americans’ suspicion that the justice system is two-tiered, justifying Mr. Trump’s drive to reshape it — or, because turnabout is fair play, to use it to benefit his own side.”
Alexander Burns, head of news at Politico, wrote, “It is a rich gift to those who want to blow up the justice system as we know it, and who claim the government is a self-dealing club for hypocritical elites. It is a promise-breaking act that subjects Biden’s allies to yet another humiliation in a year packed with Biden-inflicted injuries. The decision comes at a moment when the capital is girding for an assault on federal law enforcement institutions led by President-elect Donald Trump and his appointees.”
Of course, conservative media outlets went bonkers, mostly because they have been obsessed with Hunter Biden for years. That obsession, and the fact that President-elect Donald Trump is showing every sign that he is out for retribution in his second term, likely helped lead to Biden’s decision.
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson pointed out the obvious, writing, “If I were President Joe Biden, I would have done the same thing. I would have pardoned a son who faced possible federal prison time not because of the crimes he committed, but because of me.”
Robinson added, “I can’t argue that pardoning Hunter was politically the right thing for the president to do. I’m not even sure it was morally the right thing for a president to do. But if my son were in Hunter’s position and I had the power, with the stroke of a pen, to save him and give him a fresh start, I’d do it. I believe many fathers would agree.”
The one thing that many in the media kept bringing up Monday was that, all along, Biden said he would not pardon his son. He said it throughout the campaign — both his and Kamala Harris’.
Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher wrote that “the most damaging takes are from ostensibly objective media figures who willfully disregard the facts and the substance to bolster the idea that what the president did was some yuge travesty, and is equivalent — or worse — to the things Trump has done.”
Many who are criticizing the pardon do acknowledge, after plenty of hand-wringing, that Hunter Biden may have been treated unfairly or targeted for harsh punishment simply because he’s the president’s son. They then call President Biden a liar for now pardoning his son.
Christopher wrote, “Those statements are now being characterized as ‘lies’ — and for partisans like (CNN’s Scott) Jennings or (Donald) Trump, that’s a fair move. Without a doubt Democrats would say the same if the situation were reversed. But news personnel aren’t supposed to emulate partisans. There’s a big difference between ‘lying’ and changing your mind, and it is the duty of journalists (who thought of every euphemism they could to avoid calling Trump a liar) to give Americans all of the facts.”
Christopher continued, “First of all, when Biden made those pledges he was still running for president and was fairly certain civilly liable sexual predator and convicted felon was not going to succeed him, mitigating the need to protect Hunter from further attacks. Even after he dropped out, things were looking good for Vice President Kamala Harris — even in the days and hours before Trump’s surprise victory. During that time, Trump made attacking Hunter a regular part of his stump — a campaign of lies and discredited and debunked accusations that help explain why the president’s pardon encompasses such a wide time period.”
Again, the pardon also notes, correctly many would argue, that Hunter Biden had become a political pawn. Ankush Khardori, a senior writer for Politico, wrote just last week, “Let’s start with a basic but important proposition: The cases against Hunter Biden probably would not have been brought against anyone else. This is not to excuse any of Hunter Biden’s conduct, but the gun charges have almost no real precedent, and the conduct underlying the tax charges is usually resolved by the Justice Department through repayment and/or fines. The reason we are here is because Trump and his Republican allies effectively — and successfully — pressured Joe Biden’s own Justice Department to prosecute his son.”
Some in the media argued that this tarnishes Biden’s presidency, but that feels like prisoner-of-the-moment talk. Soon, Donald Trump will move back into the White House. Perhaps he will use Biden’s pardon of his son as an excuse to do whatever he sees fit during his presidency.
But based on what we’ve seen from Trump, you get the feeling he doesn’t need an excuse to do whatever he wants to do, precedent or not.
