After wielding presidential power to protect his son Hunter Biden
from a potential prison sentence with a full and unconditional
pardon tonight, President Biden is facing sharp criticism from Democrats
and Republicans, even as some express sympathy for Joe Biden
the father.
If it was my son, I'd pardon him too.
But here's what I didn't like.
Don't lie to us.
Don't tell us you're not going to do it.
And then do it.
Arizona Congressman, Democrat Greg Stanton.
I'm pretty angry because it's going to be incredibly important
that political leaders of both parties stand up for the
independence of the Department of Justice.
President Biden and White House officials repeatedly insisted there would
be no pardon.
I said I abide by the jury decision.
I will do that and I will not pardon him.
We've been asked that question multiple times.
Our answer stands, which is no.
Tonight on a three day visit to Africa.
The president did not respond to reporters questions.
Mr.
President, will you answer a few questions?
But at a White House Christmas event, First Lady Jill
Biden expressed her support for the pardon.
The pardon was first reported by NBC News Sunday night,
and shortly thereafter, President Biden explained his grant of clemency.
In a statement, the president asserted I have watched my
son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted.
The pardon is sweeping, covering not only his son's felony
convictions on firearms charges and tax evasion, where he faced
potential prison time at sentencing this month, but the president
provided more than a decade of blanket protection, preventing further
federal prosecution for any offenses dating back to January 2014,
months before the younger Biden joined the board of a
Ukrainian energy company while his father was vice president.
Blaming a heated environment, the president argued that raw politics
has infected this process.
He invoked his son's recovery from addiction.
There's been an effort to break Hunter, who has been
5 1/2 years sober and claimed his political adversaries could
pose future risk to his family.
Writing in trying to break Hunter.
They've tried to break me.
And there's no reason to believe it will stop here.
Enough is enough.
And Kelly, President-elect Trump also weighed in today.
He did.
Mr.
Trump reacted in a social media post indirectly by raising
the convictions of January 6th rioters as an abuse and
miscarriage of justice.
And notably, when he was in office in his first
term, President Trump pardoned a member of his family by
marriage, daughter Ivanka's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, who is now selected
to be the next ambassador to France.
Lester.