The Biden White House, under fire from the right and some on the left for the President's decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, after having declared he would not do so, revealed on Monday the circumstances that led to the announcement Sunday evening.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday as President Joe Biden travels to Angola, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suggested if Vice President Kamala Harris had won the November election, President Biden would not have pardoned Hunter Biden—before declaring she did not want to get into hypotheticals. She also said that Biden's son "was singled out," and "they tried to break his son in order to break him."
"In a good faith way, if you are looking at the facts of Hunter's cases," Jean-Pierre said (video below), "you can't reach any other conclusion, right?"
"What we have seen, not just us, there's other people who have commented on the president's actions," she added, "and can see that Hunter was singled out, and, because his last name was Biden, because he was the president's son. That's what we saw. And so the president believed, enough is enough, and the president took action, and he also believes, that they tried to break his son in order to break him."
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"Do you think this would have happened if Harris hadn't lost the election?" ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett asked, according to a transcript posted by CNN's DJ Judd.
"I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get into, into the election. It is a no-l can answer that, it's a no, and what I can say—" Jean-Pirerre replied.
"It's a no? This would not have happened if Harris hadn't lost the election? A pardon would not have happened if Harris hadn't lost the election?" Haslett pressed.
"I can speak to where we are today," Jean-Pierre explained, "and so I can't speak to hypotheticals here. Where we are today, the President made this decision over the weekend. He thought about it, he wrestled with it, and for him, he made this decision because he believed his son was being politically--"
"We're wondering what changed his mind, and obviously the election-- in the statement, he refers to, 'Enough is enough, he thinks that there could be further- it sounds like he thinks there could be further prosecution of Hunter under a Trump administration," Haslett continued.
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"He didn't believe that they would let up, right?" Jean-Pierre replied, apparently referring to prosecutors nominated by the incoming Trump administration, who have said they would go after Hunter Biden and many others seen as enemies of Donald Trump. "He didn't think that they would, they would continue to go after his son. That's what he believed. And look, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals, to the original part of your question. The President wrestled with this decision. He made this decision this weekend, and he decided to move forward with pardoning his son."
"Two things can be true," Jean-Pierre added, according to The Washington Post's Matt Viser. "The President does believe in the justice system and the Department of Justice. And he also believes that his son was singled out politically."
Watch the video below or at this link.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says President Joe Biden believed “enough was enough” in coming to the decision Sunday to pardon his son Hunter after months of saying he would not do so.
More: https://t.co/5cQpjGMnIl pic.twitter.com/1NOLOeJMg7 — NewsNation (@NewsNation) December 2, 2024
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