President Biden’s decision to go back on his pledge not to pardon his son Hunter dominated media headlines this week and opened him up to severe bipartisan criticism in the final weeks of his presidency.
The pardon spares Hunter Biden from his sentencing in two federal cases involving federal tax charges and felony gun charges, but also covers all potential crimes he “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.
While many liberals defended Biden after the news broke last Sunday, some Democratic Party figures, including former top aides to President Obama, accused the president of making his defenders look “stupid” and complicit in his lie.
Several journalists and media commentators also predicted that the decision would tarnish Biden’s legacy, particularly after he had been praised effusively for his initial promise not to pardon his son.
Here are ten of the top media reactions to the Hunter pardon.
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Chuck Todd and President Biden. (Getty Images)
NBC’s Chuck Todd blasts Biden for doing ‘real damage’ to the country with pardon
NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd blasted Biden in comments on “Meet the Press NOW” on Wednesday, saying that Biden had undermined faith in U.S. institutions by claiming his son had been “unfairly” targeted.
“You have the leading Democrat in America and the leading Republican in America both agreeing on one thing: the Justice Department has been politicized. That is absolutely – that is long-term damaging,” Todd told host Ali Vitali.
Todd claimed the move would give President-elect Donald Trump a “permission slip” for future pardons and, in particular, blanket pardons.
“Unprecedented acts – any presidential act becomes a permission slip for the next president. And we have seen this through history, through our own history and how the presidency has worked: once one thing has happened, suddenly it becomes, ‘Well, we’ve done it before. So we can do it again’ type of thing,” he lamented.
“So now we’re in a situation where every party is going to come in, and as they leave, everybody gets their security blanket pardon. ‘OK, how long do you want it? You want a 10-year window?’” Todd continued.
CNN host Jake Tapper called out both President Biden and his administration for appearing to strategically hide the plans to pardon Hunter Biden until now. (CNN)
CNN’s Tapper says Biden’s lie about pardon made his admin, allies look ‘credulous or complicit’
CNN anchor Jake Tapper argued that President Biden’s decision to pardon his son after the White House had denied he would do so is an indictment of his administration.
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“President Biden lying about this, of course, makes others in his administration and allies either credulous or complicit, including White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who‘s been saying this for months to the American people,” Tapper said, before showing Jean-Pierre denying plans to pardon Hunter multiple times.
Tapper said there was a “political benefit” to Biden and his allies telling this lie.
“In June, when Hunter Biden was found guilty on three felony gun charges, his father, the president, was still running for re-election against former President Donald Trump and Democrats and progressives saw this as an opportunity to contrast the current and former president,” he continued.
Former Obama aides trash Biden for looking like a ‘typical, lying politician,’ making his supporters look ‘stupid’
President Biden promised repeatedly he wouldn’t pardon his son Hunter before reversing himself last week. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor, often referred to as the “Obama bros” due to their tenure in the White House, discussed the ramifications of Biden’s pardon on their “Pod Save America” podcast on Tuesday.
The former Obama aides accused Biden of “lying” and making his supporters “look like they’re full of s—” by pardoning Hunter after saying he would not do so.
“Now everyone looks stupid. Everyone looks like they are full of s—,” Vietor said. “And Republicans are going to use this to argue it was politics as usual when Democrats warned of Trump’s corruption or threat to the rule or the threat to democracy. And I think that’s the piece of this I am most frustrated with, which is Joe Biden looking like a typical, lying politician. And I think that leads to a cynical feeling that all politicians are bad. They are all the same and that this is just par for the course.”
“I believed him. I feel like a f—ing fool, that’s what makes me mad about it,” Favreau admitted.
Charlamagne Tha God clashes with Whoopi Goldberg over Biden ‘lie’
Popular radio host Charlamagne Tha God criticized Biden for going back on his word, leading to a clash between him and co-host Whoopi Goldberg on “The View.”
“He could have said [to reporters’ past questions about a Hunter pardon], ‘Hey, man, I’m not focused on that right now.’ But since they were calling Trump a threat to democracy and saying nobody is above the law, but they were speaking about him, that’s what they were running on, so when he kept saying things like… ‘Nobody is above the law, I respect the jury’s decision, in regards to my son.’ He didn’t believe that. But he didn’t have to volunteer that lie to begin with,” Charlamagne said.
“I’m going to stop you for a second, only because you don’t know that it was a lie,” Goldberg said.
“You really think he just changed his mind over Thanksgiving weekend, all of the sudden?” Charlamagne shot back.
Charlamagne tha God argued Biden had voluntarily “lied” about not pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. (left: (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images), right: Photo by Derek White/Getty Images))
“I think he changed his mind because he got sick of watching everybody else get over,” Goldberg insisted. “At some point you get to the place where you just go, ‘So I’m just going to follow the straight and narrow always,’ because that’s what’s expected of Democrats.”
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Charlamagne pushed back and said, “That’s their fault,” referring to Democratic rhetoric about protecting U.S. institutions.
NBC’s Todd says Biden ‘needs therapy’ following son Hunter’s pardon
NBC News’ Todd offered another, more personal critique of President Biden over the pardon, saying that Biden clearly “needs therapy.”
“Joe Biden’s got—needs therapy and I say this with respect. He has not processed Beau’s death. He has an issue—he cannot, he has this issue with Hunter. He second-guesses everything he’s done with raising Hunter versus raising Beau. He, I think, blames himself for Hunter’s inability to conduct himself as an adult for a period of time,” Todd said.
The NBC analyst, who said he had somewhat of a personal relationship with Biden’s sons in the past, claimed that Hunter has “sort of failed at being a human being” in the last decade.
“There was no doubt that Joe Biden was not going to leave office without doing everything he could to protect his son. Pure and simple,” Todd added, calling it a “dad reaction.”
Chuck Todd suggested that President Biden is “emotionally incapable” of being president after pardoning his son, Hunter. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg/William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
Todd added that Biden “probably never should have run” for president, stating his family drama rendered him “emotionally incapable.”
Dem rep forced to watch clip of himself claiming Biden wouldn’t pardon Hunter: ‘What does that feel like?’
In a CNN appearance this week, New York Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman was confronted with a year-old clip of himself insisting Biden would never pardon his son.
CNN host Brianna Keilar interviewed Goldman on Monday, recalling, “You went out on a limb backing up Biden when he said that there would not be a pardon in July of 2023, just after that plea deal fell through.”
She then played the year-old clip of Goldman on ABC News denying there was “any chance” that Biden was going to pardon Hunter and hailing the independence of Biden’s Justice Department.
“What does that feel like?” Keilar asked Goldman afterward. “Watching yourself back then reassuring people that Biden was not going to issue a pardon for his son.”
Jon Stewart takes aim at Biden for lying about Hunter pardon: ‘Now look at the dance Democrats have to do’
Jon Stewart took aim at President Biden for Hunter pardon. (Getty Images)
“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart mocked President Biden on Monday over his decision to pardon Hunter, saying he had made the rest of his party look bad.
“Hypocrisy isn’t illegal. Nor is it particularly unusual in politics,” Stewart said. “The problem is the rest of the Democrats made Biden’s pledge to not pardon Hunter the foundation of their defense of America, this great experiment.”
Stewart showed clips of several Democrats and members of the media touting the president’s respect for the rule of law after Hunter Biden was indicted and found guilty, as the president said he had no intentions of pardoning his son.
“Now, look at the dance Democrats have to do,” Stewart said. The comedian aired a clip of MSNBC host and former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki applauding the president’s character in June after he said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter.
Jeffrey Toobin rips Biden for son’s pardon: ‘Consummate act of nepotism’
Disgraced CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin ripped Biden’s call to pardon his son after multiple felony convictions, calling it a “consummate act of nepotism.”
In a New York Times guest essay published Monday, Toobin argued there was merit to Biden’s point that his son was being targeted by his political adversaries but argued he was still convicted on felonies which he is now getting away with simply because of his father’s position.
Toobin wrote, “Mr. Biden’s love for his son, as well as his anger about the way he was treated, was understandable, but the president’s consummate act of nepotism has stained the record of the Biden presidency.”
Hunter Biden flashes a big smile as he leaves an Arby’s in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. This is the first time that the son of President Joe Biden has been photographed since he was pardoned by his father. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
Newspapers condemn Biden’s ‘selfish’ act pardoning Hunter, predict it will ‘tarnish’ his record
The editorial boards for both the New York Times and the Washington Post came out swinging against President Biden over the pardon this week, arguing he had damaged his legacy.
“[Biden] risks deepening many Americans’ suspicion that the justice system is two-tiered, justifying Mr. Trump’s drive to reshape it — or, because turnabout is fair play, to use it to benefit his own side,” the Washington Post editorial board stated Monday, a day after Biden announced the pardon of his son.
“With this one intemperate, selfish act, the president has undermined, in hindsight, the lofty rationales he offered for seeking the presidency four years ago and indelibly marred the final chapter of his political career,” the board’s editorial continued.
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The New York Times’ editorial board also wrote of Biden’s pardon, “This was a significant misstep that could leave lasting damage. It will not only tarnish Mr. Biden’s own record as a defender of democratic norms, it will also be greedily embraced as justification for Donald Trump’s further abuses of pardon power and broader attacks on the integrity of the justice system.”
Liberal MSNBC contributor left speechless over Hunter pardon
Liberal MSNBC contributor Molly Jong-Fast was left speechless on Sunday shortly after news broke about the presidential pardon, admitting she had no response and needed time to “process” the news.
“I just want to alert you all to some breaking news that we’re getting. NBC is reporting that President Biden is expected to pardon his son, Hunter Biden,” MSNBC guest host Melissa Murray said during a discussion. “According to NBC News, the president made the decision this weekend. Molly, fast and furious, what do you make of this new news?”
“I, so, I just heard it. I have to process it. I don’t have a take. I’m sorry,” Jong-Fast responded.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in September, and was convicted of three felony gun charges in June after lying on a mandatory gun purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
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Fox News’ Hanna Panreck, Alexander Hall, Gabriel Hays and Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
