Donald Trump has not ruled out pardoning ‘bad boy’ Hunter Biden if the former president is re-elected next month – after four years of complaining about the ‘laptop from hell’.
Trump made the comment to conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, who asked him directly in an interview whether he would do so, immediately after Trump told him he would fire special counsel Jack Smith “in two seconds” if re-elected.
“I wouldn’t take it off the books,” Trump said, using a phrase similar to “off the table,” which usually means something is done without being disclosed or accounted for.
“Look, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they did to me, where they came after me so viciously, despite what – and Hunter is a bad boy,” Trump told his interviewer.
‘There’s no doubt about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do was see the laptop from hell. But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.’
The president’s son faces federal gun charges in December after he was convicted of lying about his drug addiction when filling out a form to purchase a gun. He pled guilty to separate federal tax charges in September.
Donald Trump claimed he thought it was “terrible” to prosecute Hillary Clinton, noting the times he called for her prosecution and incarceration. He was asked whether he would pardon Hunter Biden, who was convicted on gun charges
A lot would have to happen before Trump, who issued a series of pardons to political allies including Steve Bannon and Roger Stone in his final weeks in office, would have to consider a pardon of Hunter Biden.
One possibility is that President Joe Biden could pardon his son, although Biden has repeatedly said he would rule out such a move. Trump made a big deal about Hunter’s behavior in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign, after information about his sordid lifestyle and business practices emerged on a laptop turned over by the owner of a Wilmington repair shop.
As in the past, Trump said he could have jailed 2016 political rival Hillary Clinton, although she has never been charged with a crime and the FBI recommended in 2016 that she not be charged in connection with her use of a home -email server.
“I could have gone after Hillary. I could have easily taken Hillary Clinton. And if they say lock her up, every time they say lock her up, you know, 30,000 people would lock her up, lock her up. What have I done? I always say take it easy, just relax. We are winning. Take it easy. Take it easy, Trump said.
The statement is about the various times Trump was there himself said: ‘lock her up’ when we talk about Clinton.
‘Bad boy’: Trump said he wouldn’t ‘make it out of the book’ when asked if he would pardon Hunter Biden, apparently not ruling it out
“I could have had her put in jail. And I decided I didn’t want to do that. I thought it would look terrible,” Trump said, glossing over the time he tweeted: “Everyone’s wondering why the Justice Department (and the FBI) aren’t investigating all the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems’
(Biden himself said “lock him up” days ago in New Hampshire when talking about Trump, in a lame mood he immediately tried to backtrack by saying lock him up “politically.”)
“I could have had her put in jail. And I decided I didn’t want to do that. I thought it would look terrible. You let the wife of the President of the United States go to prison. I thought it would be really bad if we did that. And I made sure that didn’t happen, okay? I thought it would be bad. What I didn’t know is that they were going to play dirty with me. Who thinks that?’ Trump said.
Trump’s comments ignore his 2017 call for the Justice Department to do so to research Clinton and his reported 2018 comments told his White House counsel that he wanted her prosecuted.
Trump said in 2020, shortly after launching his re-election effort, “Lock them up. You should lock them up. Lock up the Bidens. Lock Hillary up.”
His current rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, accused him on Wednesday of creating an “enemies list” and cited his recent comments about confronting an “enemy from within.”
Trump himself faces the resumption of his January 6 trial after Election Day. Smith, the special prosecutor who filed charges in that case and the classified documents case, is appealing a Trump-appointed lawyer’s decision to dismiss that case in Florida.
He will be sentenced late next month in his hush-money case in New York, where he is unlikely to face jail time.