Mainstream media spent last week in a self-righteous frenzy over Joe Biden’s pardon of his son.
Almost none of the coverage explained that Hunter Biden was pardoned for offenses rarely prosecuted in the first place.
Because he was in recovery and not using at the time, Hunter Biden answered “no” on a gun permit application where it asked about drug addiction. While this may have been a ‘context needed’ response, according to the National Criminal Justice Association, almost no one gets prosecuted for grey or even false answers on a gun permit application. Similarly, the tax charges brought against Hunter Biden were for first time tax offenses related to mis-claimed expenditures; such charges are rarely brought against first-time offenders, and almost never result in jail time.
The rarity of similar, arms-length prosecutions in both cases supports a strong inference that Hunter was prosecuted for politics, not cause, as President Biden made clear.
On the surface, Biden’s justification echoed Trump’s repeated claims of victimhood, but there’s no factual comparison. Lying about expenses on a personal tax return, or drug use on a permit for a gun that was never used, isn’t in the same league as Trump inciting a violent mob to attack the U.S. capital. Nor is it anywhere near Trump asking a state official to find 11,000 votes to rig an election, decades of business and financial fraud, a jury finding of sexual abuse and defamation, or staggering emoluments from foreign governments.
Media malfeasance on parade
Since the pardon was announced, Fox News has churned non-stop false narratives equating the “Biden crime family” with Trump’s long litany of felonies. Fox News ran over 80 features covering the Biden pardon over the past week alone, yet to this day has still never factually discussed J6 or Trump’s role in it.
Fox similarly offers no criticism of Trump’s plan to install a psychopath to turn the FBI into a dragnet against American citizens. Kash Patel is so rabidly obsessed with Trump’s ‘revenge’ he’ll make J. Edgar Hoover look like a puppy. Fox calls Patel, who writes childrens books about a persecuted ‘King Donald,’ an “advocate for truth” who will use the FBI to “bust the deep state.”
Fox will continue to propagandize Trump to low-information voters in service to Murdoch’s and Trump donors’ deep-pocket interests and no surprise there. What is surprising is that the NYT and other mainstream outlets have engaged in similar malfeasance, continuing the same media double standard that helped return a felon to the presidency. The day Biden’s pardon was announced, The New York Times devoted nearly its entire cover page to the story, and, over the past week, has run at least 28 features covering the pardon, almost none supportive.
Self-righteous objections disregard reality
Critics are correct that Biden previously said he would not pardon his son. But Biden made this statement before an untethered criminal was re-elected who, post-election, has paraded his plans to abuse his office for un-American revenge.
Pundits also argue that the pardon weakens Democrats’ commitment to the rule of law, even though Trump issued pardons for far more consequential offenses. Trump pardoned his in-law Charles Kushner, and has offered him an ambassadorship, after Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 federal charges including witness tampering, violating election laws, and tax evasion. After Kushner found out members of his family were cooperating with authorities, he hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and sent a videotape of the affair to his sister. Chris Christie, then-U.S. attorney, called it “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he had ever prosecuted.
Trump also pardoned Michael Flynn after he admitted he lied to the FBI to protect Trump in the Russia investigation. Along with Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, drug dealers and over 175 other defendants, the crimes Trump pardoned are venomous snake bites compared to Hunter Biden’s mosquito bite.
When Trump pardons J6 rioters who assaulted federal police and wanted to hang Mike Pence, the upset over Hunter’s pardon for lying on a form will look ridiculous.
Norm follows function
One pundit after another argues that Biden should honor norms, stand on ceremony, and throw his son to Trump’s lawless and vindictive FBI to prove a point.
If upholding norms resulted in anything like reciprocity, i.e., if it would lead Republicans to follow suit, standing on principle might have merit. But there is no evidence whatsoever that Trump’s enablers care about norms; if anything, ‘owning the libs’ and other juvenile ethos from the right require rejecting them.
Endorsing Biden’s pardon isn’t just a matter of disregarding norms already discarded by the other side. It’s a reality-based refusal to stand on a burning platform while the other side holds the torch. Any recollection of Trump’s first term coupled with the pre-planned miscarriage of justice for his second makes objecting to Biden’s pardon look naïve to the point of virtue signaling.
Biden needs to pardon everyone in Trump’s crosshairs
If anything, Biden needs to keep the pardon ink flowing as Trump showcases the most dangerous and unqualified cabinet in American history, expressly assembled to take down his “domestic enemies.” Biden should also initiate FBI background checks, immediately, for any nominees Trump refuses to vet.
In light of Trump’s public vow to wreck the government and the people in it, Biden should use his remaining time in office to issue blanket pardons to those on Patel’s target list, including prominent Republicans like Liz Cheney of Wyoming, whom Trump says “should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee.”
Trump’s sinister threats of vengeance against every American who lawfully sought to hold him accountable for his crimes are rapidly materializing. Instead of enabling Trump’s reign of terror by letting it unfold as Trump, Patel, Hegseth and other blood-thirsty goons have threatened, Biden has the pardon power to preemptively kneecap it, and he should use it.
A president’s duty to protect and defend demands no less.
Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25 year litigator specializing in 1st and 14th Amendment defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.
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