Biden slammed by his own party after shock U-turn decision to pardon son Hunter: ‘Put his family ahead of the country’

Republicans accused President Joe Biden of lies and corruption after the president announced Sunday night that he would pardon his son Hunter — but the deeper cut came from a prominent member of his own party.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis ripped the decision, accusing his party’s leader of “putting his family before country.”

“While as a father I certainly understand President @JoeBiden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he has put his family before country,” Polis wrote. “This is a bad precedent that could be abused by future presidents and will unfortunately tarnish his reputation.”

Polis endorsed Biden in 2020, even holding back when there were early calls for Biden to step aside after his debate disaster.

The comment reflected the backlash the pardon is already causing, and concerns that Donald Trump will use it to his own advantage. Democrats have repeatedly accused Trump of trying to bend the Justice Department to his own will to exact revenge and dole out special favors to family members.

Donald Trump’s campaign released an angry statement blasting the pardon — and used it to accuse Democrats of “weaponizing” the justice system.

“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democratic-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system. That justice system must be restored and due process must be restored to all Americans, and that is exactly what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people,” said new Trump Communications Director Steven Cheung . DailyMail.com.

A White House official denied that the pardon had anything to do with Trump’s announcement that he will appoint Kash Patel to lead the FBI and install other loyalists.

“No — this is in response to what has already happened in this case, where political pressure has resulted in a miscarriage of justice,” said the official, who did not respond to questions about the general nature of the pardon and whether Biden was sometimes honest and ruled out a pardon.

Among the first to fire off an angry statement was Kentucky Republican James Comer, one of the leading advocates in Congress for going after Hunter, and among those Biden may have had in mind when he complained that his political opponents in Congress’instigated the charges against Hunter, attack and oppose my election.’

“Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence,” Comer wrote in a post on X.

“Not only has he falsely claimed that he never met his son’s foreign business partners and that his son did nothing wrong, but he also lied when he said he would not pardon Hunter Biden.”

“The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied to the American people about. It is unfortunate that, instead of coming clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid responsibility.”

Some of these allegations, including Hunter’s generous board position for Burisma and other globe-trotting deals, although investigated for years by the House Republican Party and prosecutors, have not resulted in charges. House Republicans have also suspended their impeachment inquiry.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is 91 and served with Biden for decades, expressed frustration with the president — and with himself.

“I am shocked that President Biden pardoned his son Hunter, because he said many times he would not, and I believed him. Shame on me,” Grassley wrote on X.

The anger came as details of Biden’s extraordinary action emerged. He opted to grant a blanket pardon dating back to December 1, 2014, “including but not limited to all crimes charged or prosecuted,” filed by Special Prosecutor David Weiss.

That period includes a long period before Biden took office and would also include Hunter’s foreign business dealings while his father was vice president.

Biden repeatedly said he would not pardon his son even as his legal situation deteriorated when a plea deal on taxes collapsed in Wilmington in spectacular fashion.

Asked whether he would accept the outcome if a jury found his son guilty, Biden responded with a simple “yes” this summer in a response to ABC:

When asked if he was ruling out a pardon, he responded with a statement: “Yes.”

“I will not pardon him,” he said after a California jury convicted him on weapons charges.

Polis’ statement drew a sharp response from a Democratic strategist, in a warning to other party members who might stray.

Governor Polis just endorsed RFK Jr., who wants to end research into life-saving treatments because a worm ate part of his brain. So he has to look at his own reputation.’ Polis supported Trump’s decision to appoint RFK, Jr. to nominate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

On November 7, two days after the election with Donald Trump’s apparent return to the White House, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre answered “no” when asked if the president would pardon Hunter.

But there had long been suspicions that Biden would eventually pardon Hunter, his only surviving son.

Instead of waiting for the Christmas season, when Donald Trump issued a series of pardons, Biden chose the Sunday after Thanksgiving, on a day when Trump announced he would nominate loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI.

President Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger on charges related to cocaine distribution on January 20, 2001, his last day in office.

“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Department of Justice’s decision-making, and I have kept my word even as I watched my son be selectively and unjustly prosecuted,” Biden said in a statement. declaration.

He claimed that people “are almost never brought to trial on a felony charge solely because of the way they filled out a gun form.”

“It’s clear that Hunter was treated differently.”

The president said that “several of my political opponents in Congress” were making the allegations a public concern “to attack me and oppose my election.”

He added that if the plea deal Hunter struck with the Justice Department had not fallen through, the president would have seen it as a “fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”

“No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases could come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out solely because he is my son – and that is wrong,” he continued.