While Republicans and some Democrats are condemning President Joe Biden for his decision on Sunday to pardon his son Hunter Biden on federal charges related to gun possession and tax evasion, others like U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, are declaring, “Way to go, Joe.”
Crockett, a freshman congresswoman who sits on the House Oversight Committee, praised Biden for using his executive powers to shield his son from prison and any future prosecution regarding a 10-year span when Hunter battled drug addiction and, subsequently, was embroiled in legal trouble. The president argued that the federal criminal case against Hunter Biden was “infected” by political pressure from Republicans despite precedent cases resulting in less severe prosecutions.
Congresswoman Crockett argued that given President-elect Donald Trump’s own criminality and alleged criminal acts committed by proposed members of his incoming White House cabinet, Biden’s pardon isn’t controversial by comparison.
“At the end of the day, we know that we have a 34-count convicted felon that is about to walk into the White House. So for anyone that wants to clutch their pearls now because he decided that he was going to pardon his son, I would say take a look in the mirror,” Crockett told MSNBC. She continued, “Because we also know that when it comes to this cabinet, this cabinet has more people accused of sexual assault than any incoming cabinet probably ever in the history of America.”
“So we are living in unprecedented times, and we know that this was completely political. As someone who serves on the Oversight Committee, this was gamesmanship the entire time, and we know that this investigation had been taking place for five or six years,” Crockett said of the House probe of Hunter Biden led by Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
She added, “We know that Hunter had accepted responsibility, and it was the Oversight Committee that was pushing to try to say no, it wasn’t enough, and, ultimately, the judge decided to reject the plea. And so, considering everything that took place and considering where we are in this country, I say, way to go, Joe.”
Some Democratic pundits have slammed Biden’s pardon announcement, suggesting it displays hypocrisy from the sitting president. Biden previously said he would not pardon his son and vowed to restore trust in Democratic institutions like the Department of Justice, which Trump has tried to use as a political cudgel while in office and vowed to transform to his political will when he returns.
Other Democrats, however, have argued that given Trump’s pronouncements of payback and retribution during his second term, Biden’s decision was warranted, particularly as certain norms seem to inevitably fall once Trump returns to office. Trump and other Republicans have repeatedly suggested that President Biden was orchestrating federal criminal cases against him and have threatened to use the executive branch to go after Biden, his family, and any other Democrats deemed opponents of the MAGA universe.
“Trump plays by no rules. Abuses the law,” Democratic strategist Bakari Sellers wrote on X minutes after President Biden’s pardon was announced. He added, “He would’ve pardoned Hunter and called you a coward for not doing it.”
“I would have done the same thing. If Donald Trump could be elected president as a convicted felon. I’d be damned if I let my own son go to prison for the sake of a principle that only one side believes in,” said Keith Boykin, a former White House aide to President Bill Clinton, in a video post on social media.
“The Republican Party spent the past 50 years building a brand as the law and order party and threw it all the way when it nominated and elected a twice impeached convicted felon as president,” Boykin continued. “Any MAGA cult member who defends the Trump crime family and their association has no credibility to complain about Hunter Biden now or forever.”