Just weeks before President Joe Biden leaves the White House, he’s using his presidential power to do something he once promised he wouldn’t do: Look out for his kid, Hunter Biden. Of course, Black Twitter has a thing or three to say about the move.
Biden announced Sunday that he will pardon Hunter, who was to be sentenced this month on federal tax and gun convictions. According to CNN, Biden previously stated that he would not intervene in his son’s cases...and that the White House wouldn’t either.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement on Sunday (Dec. 1). It is a “full and unconditional pardon,” the statement reads.
Many are connecting the pardon to Biden’s long-gestating vow to cancel student loans, even though the two have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
Professor and political commentator Marc Lamont Hill predicted the ire of MAGA with the pardon, writing: “Republicans about to be MAD mad...”
President-Elect Donald Trump claimed during this year’s presidential campaign that if he becomes president for a second time, one of his first priorities would be to free hundreds of the Jan. 6 rioters.
“Trump pardoned his criminal co conspirators,” Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent for The Nation, wrote. “I’m 100% behind Biden pardoning his son.”
Another X personality, @Mompreneur_of_3, also chimed in on double standard between Democrats and Republicans. “MAGA can f*ck all the way off!,” she said. “You’ve lost your morals yrs ago!”
Former House Representative and political commentator Bakari Sellers echoed this sentiment as well, but was less profane. “Thank God. Pardon Hunter. Trump plays by no rules. Abuses the law,” he stated. “He would’ve pardoned Hunter and called you a coward for not doing it.”
Hunter’s pardon means he won’t be sentenced for his alleged crimes and eliminates the possibility of prison. The judges who are overseeing his cases will likely cancel the sentencing hearings, which were scheduled for Dec. 12 in the gun case and Dec. 16 in the tax case.