It was only a matter of time before prominent Democrats and likely 2028 presidential contenders started pulling away from President Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter despite earlier assurances it wouldn’t happen.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a man rarely on the side of anything logical, straight up accused Joe Biden of lying to the American people and subsequently breaking their trust, according to Politico:
“With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter,” Newsom said. “But I took the president at his word. So by definition, I’m disappointed and can’t support the decision.”
Newsom did not elaborate further. Instead of diving into moral or ethical failures — or even its impact on executive power or the future of democracy — the California governor focused exclusively on the president shattering his trust. Biden and his aides had repeatedly asserted that he would not pardon Hunter before the about-face.
Newsom’s remarks came in response to questions from POLITICO soon after the White House announced the pardon Sunday evening.
With his unequivocal comments Newsom instantly becomes one of the highest-profile members of his party — if not the most prominent voice — to denounce the president’s sweeping action.
Interestingly enough, it was Newsom who played the role of Biden’s defender after the disastrous debate performance back in June. He hasn’t been one to undercut the President on many issues and, up to this point, has tried to remain loyal across the board.
However, the Hunter pardon stinks beyond redemption, and no amount of explaining or rationalizing by the White House will convince many people otherwise.
As John Daniel Davidson writes in The Federalist, Joe’s pardon for Hunter is more about Joe protecting himself:
He pardoned Hunter to help cover up his own crimes, just as he’ll likely pardon other members of his family before he leaves office in January. He’s trying to protect himself, and this is one of the only ways he has left to do it.
After all, President Biden is the one at the center of the influence-peddling and bribery schemes that Hunter ran while Biden was vice president. Joe, not Hunter, was the one being bribed. It was his influence, not Hunter’s, that was being purchased by Ukrainian oligarchs and Chinese businessmen, both during and after Biden was vice president. There’s no Biden family business without “the big guy.” Focusing on Hunter’s crimes, and his pardon, is a distraction from the far more serious crimes his father committed.
Whatever happened to claims that Hunter Biden’s laptop, full of damning evidence of wrongdoing, was Russian disinformation? It was all a lie, of course, and that was well-known at the time.
— Political Blasphememes (@PBlasphememes) December 3, 2024
The Bidens are dirty and have been for quite a while as evidenced by the timeframe of Hunter’s pardon which extends back to January 2014. In other words, who even knows how many possible crimes may have been committed over the past decade by members of the Biden family?
Joe’s move to protect his son erects somewhat of a wall against further investigation and prosecution of anyone higher up in the family.
For once, Gavin Newsom is right even if he’s only saying it for his own political gain.
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