President Joe Biden was "being truthful to the American people" when he repeatedly insisted he would not pardon his son because he only decided to issue the pardon "this weekend," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday. Hours earlier, reports emerged that Biden privately discussed pardoning Hunter Biden for months but opted to "publicly say he would not."
Jean-Pierre addressed reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden traveled to Angola. Asked whether Biden lied when he said he would not pardon Hunter Biden, Jean-Pierre said the president "truly believes" in "being truthful to the American people."
"First of all, one of the things that the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people, that is something that he always truly believes," she said. "And if you see the end of his [statement] … he actually says that, in the first line of the last paragraph."
"He came to this decision this weekend, so let's be very clear about that. He says it himself, it's in his voice, he said he came to this decision this weekend, and he said he wrestled with this."
Roughly 12 hours before Jean-Pierre's briefing, NBC News reported that Biden had in fact discussed pardoning Hunter Biden "with some of his closest aides" following the embattled first son's June conviction on felony gun charges. Those aides "decided at the time that he would publicly say he would not pardon his son even though doing so remained on the table," according to the network.
In the months following Hunter Biden's conviction, Jean-Pierre sparred with reporters who questioned whether Biden would stand by his vow not to pardon his son.
"It's still a no," she told Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller in July. "It's still a no. It will be a no. It is a no, and I don't have anything else to add. Will he pardon his son? No."
Biden himself made similar statements in the wake of his son's conviction.
"I am satisfied that I'm not gonna do anything—I said I'd abide by the jury decision, I will do that, and I will not pardon him," he said two days after a Delaware jury found Hunter Biden guilty on three felony gun charges.
Biden's media allies lavished praise on the president for making that pledge. MSNBC's Andrew Weissmann, for example, said Biden was "living the rule of law … in the most personal way" and taking "heroic action in terms of what it means to live a principle." Morning Joe co-anchor Willie Geist lauded Biden's pledge as "extraordinary" and "important," while CNN's S.E. Cupp lauded the president's "restraint."
Biden went on to issue a "full and unconditional pardon" of his son for the gun charges and separate tax evasion charges—as well as any other crime Hunter Biden may have committed between 2014 and 2024. The pardon is considered one of the most sweeping in U.S. history and marks the first time a president has pardoned his son.
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