White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre weighed in on the move in her first public remarks since Hunter Biden’s pardon.
President Joe Biden is reviewing other pardons and commutations, according to the White House on Thursday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre weighed in on the move in her first public remarks since the president’s controversial decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden on Dec. 1.
During Thursday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked whether the president is considering blanket pardons for either individuals or groups of people who were fearful of being potentially targeted by the incoming Trump administration.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the president, but what I can say is that the president is reviewing other pardons and commutations,” Jean-Pierre said.
She said Biden so far has issued 20 individual pardons and 122 commutations during his presidency.
Historically, presidential pardons are given to individuals accused of specific crimes and convicted. Biden’s team is also considering pardons for those who have not been investigated or charged in a possible preemptive move, the Associated Press has reported.
“Recently announced Trump appointments for law enforcement have said that they were out for retribution. And I think we should believe their words,” Jean-Pierre said.
The press secretary was also questioned about why she told the media and the American public on multiple occasions that the president would not pardon his son, to which she said that the circumstances changed.
“I just laid out the president’s thinking,” Jean-Pierre said in response. “The president laid it out himself in his own words. He did. He laid out how he wrestled with this decision.”
She reiterated Biden’s announcement on the pardon, saying the president felt that Hunter and his family had been through enough.
Jean-Pierre also cited statements made by Rep. James Clyburn, who personally encouraged Biden to pardon his son and felt he was targeted just because he was the president’s son.
“I emphasized to the fact, that we, as fathers, have obligations to our children,” Clyburn said during a CNN interview.
The top House Democrat, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), said he understands the situation as a father but believes that the pardon was disappointing and said that it does not uphold the rule of law.
In addition to pardoning the federal gun and tax violations, the president also cleared any potential federal offense committed over an 11-year period for his son.
Trump has said he would consider pardons for some of his supporters involved in the Jan. 6 demonstrations at the Capitol if he were to be reelected in 2024. More recently, he referred to imprisoned Jan. 6 protesters in light of Hunter Biden’s pardon.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on Dec. 2.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford granted a full pardon to his predecessor Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal.
A Dec. 2 YouGov poll shows that 50 percent of the nearly 3,600 U.S. adult respondents said they strongly or somewhat disapproved of Biden granting clemency to his son.
According to the poll, 34 percent strongly or somewhat approved of Biden’s pardon, while 16 percent were not sure.
From NTD News