White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced Thursday to rule out President Biden handing a pardon to his son Hunter.
As recently as Monday, the administration’s chief spokesperson had insisted the president was “never in business with his son” and said Wednesday that “nothing has changed.”
But scrutiny from the media and Republicans intensified after Hunter’s probation-only plea deal on tax and gun charges collapsed under scrutiny by a federal judge in Delaware, who raised questions about promises of near-blanket immunity extracted from federal prosecutors as part of the agreement.
“Is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?” Fox News reporter Mark Meredith asked Jean-Pierre during her regular briefing.
“No,” the press secretary said flatly and firmly.
When Meredith attempted to ask a follow-up question, Jean-Pierre added, “I just said no — I just answered” and called on a different journalist.
The Constitution grants presidents nearly unchecked power to pardon federal crimes — meaning that Biden, 80, could effectively end the turbulent years-long criminal case involving his son, 53, with the stroke of a pen.
However, such a decision would ignite intense political blowback.
The only president known to have pardoned an immediate family member convicted of a crime is Bill Clinton, who in his final hours before leaving office in January 2001 expunged his younger half-brother Roger’s mid-1980s conviction on a charge of conspiring to distribute cocaine.
In December 2020, former President Donald Trump pardoned New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner 15 years after his conviction on charges including illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering. Kushner’s son Jared is married to Trump’s oldest daughter, Ivanka. --->READ MORE HERE
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) took a victory lap after Hunter Biden’s supposed plea deal evaporated — claiming his multiple probes opened the first son up to more scrutiny.
Comer contended that the dramatic court development lent credence to his string of investigations into the first son’s overseas business dealings that have drawn scorn from Democrats.
“What we’re seeing today is that the Biden family is under a whole lot more investigative scrutiny than what the media has reported,” Comer told Fox News.
“I think that you’re seeing our investigation that’s shined a light on the many wrongdoings of the Biden family has picked up a lot of credibility today, because now we see that there are a lot of crimes that this family’s committed and that played out in court today.”
Hunter Biden was widely expected to unceremoniously cement a probation-only plea deal with federal prosecutors for a pair of willful failure to pay federal income tax misdemeanors and an illegal possession of a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs felony charge.
But that expected cakewalk was quickly torpedoed in a dramatic hearing in which presiding US District Judge Maryellen Noreika panned the agreement and found daylight between the defense and prosecution.
Noreika asked the prosecution whether Hunter Biden could still face scrutiny for other potential crimes such as failing to register as a foreign agent for lucrative dealings overseas.
Shortly after the prosecution said “yes,” Hunter Biden’s primary attorney Chris Clark dubbed the agreement “null and void.”
The 53-year-old first son later pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He had been expected to plead guilty to the two tax misdemeanors and enter a pretrial diversion agreement on the firearm felony charge. --->READ MORE HERE
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