Ubiquitous
2024-12-06 22:05:01 UTC
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Permalinkoperated for years under the premise that Mr. Biden possessed superior
character. But denied justice for the Biden family is not funny. The
president has just provided an appalling example for other politicos tempted
to serve themselves at the nations expense.
The Journals Ryan Barber, Annie Linskey and Ken Thomas report:
President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, wiping away
his criminal convictions on tax and gun charges despite saying earlier
this year he wouldnt grant such a reprieve
In a statement, the president said it was clear that his son had been
treated differently by the Justice Department and singled out only
because he is my sonand that is wrong.
But IRS whistleblowers say the Justice Department did the opposite,
repeatedly impeding the investigation. An FBI supervisory special agent
described to House Oversight Committee staff how federal officials prevented
the agent and IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley from interviewing Hunter Biden.
Also, if Joe Biden thought the prosecutions of his son were unjust, why has
he been saying the opposite until now?
Even at the New York Times, Peter Baker notes of the gun case:
Just this past summer, after his son was convicted at trial, the
president rejected the idea of a pardon and said that I will accept
the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial
process. The statement he issued on Sunday night made clear he did
not accept the outcome or respect the process.
What really was wrong was the way Joe Biden as vice president facilitated his
familys foreign enrichment schemes and then repeatedly made false claims
about them. Perhaps future memoirs will explain how the shady Biden cash-
collection ventures ever made it past the Obama White House general counsels
office. The question that has remained unanswered for all these years is what
the various foreign oligarchs got in return for the millions of dollars they
sent to the Biden family.
The Journal reporters note:
The presidents pardon of Hunter was particularly broad, covering
offenses which he has committed or may have committed or taken part
in dating back to the beginning of 2014. That year, the younger Biden
joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that has figured
prominently in investigations of his past business dealings.
David Friedman, former Trump ambassador to Israel and an attorney, writes on
X:
Im not sure that Joe Biden has fully considered the ramifications of
his pardon of Hunter. The pardon is extremely broad and covers
activities while Joe was vice president. This means that Hunter cannot
plead the Fifth if asked about his business dealings with Ukraine and
China, including his Dads involvement, because, with his pardon, he
has no risk of criminal jeopardy.
On the other hand, theres also no more leverage to encourage Hunter Biden to
flip and become a government witness.
This weekends pardon is useful context to understand the events of
September. At the time there was the remarkable oddity of a lawyer for Hunter
Biden suggesting that he might appeal a case in which he had just pleaded
guilty to all the tax charges. Sounds like an argument built for the White
House briefing room, not a courtroom, this column noted. And now here we
are.
There was little confusion as to why Team Biden would not welcome a trial. In
September the Journals Sara Randazzo, Ryan Barber and Annie Linskey
reported:
Federal prosecutors signaled an aggressive strategy as the trial drew
near, previewing an approach that would show how foreign interests paid
the younger Biden to influence the U.S. government while his father was
vice president during the Obama administration. Prosecutors said they
planned to cast a light on a lucrative arrangement with a Romanian
real-estate magnate who was facing a corruption investigation in his
home country, along with his ties to the oil company CEFC China Energy
and his tenure on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.
In this weeks Sunday statement published by the White House and attributed
to President Joe Biden, the author sets a mendacious tone right from the
start. Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took
office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Departments decision-
making, and I kept my word, begins the announcement that Mr. Biden has just
intervened to reject the Justice Departments decision-making. OK, maybe its
not just the cynics who are laughing at that line.
There is also the question of who really authored this statement, as well as
the use of the pardon power it describes. The Sunday statement claims that
the president made the decision this weekend. Roughly 10 months after a
Justice Department special counsel deemed Joe Biden too forgetful to
prosecute and more than four months after he was pressured by Democrats to
abandon his re-election quest because of his mental infirmities, a
consequential decision follows a Biden family gathering.
Among the many disturbing questions that have been raised once again by this
sordid episode in presidential history, there is this one:
Who is running the U.S. government?
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Let's go Brandon!