On Hunter Biden's pardon

Kurt Mahlburg
December 03, 2024 26 Reactions

Presses are running hot with the news that President Joe Biden has issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son Hunter following years of swirling controversy over the younger Biden’s questionable legal dealings, which included a federal conviction for tax evasion and lying on a firearms application.

In a statement released Sunday night, President Biden explained his reason for the pardon: “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong.”

At 82 years of age and with just over two months left in the White House, it is understandable that Joe Biden would use the full power of his office to grant clemency to someone he loves and deeply cares about.

Viewed as a gesture of paternal affection, the Biden pardon is understandable — gracious, even.

From just about any other angle, however, it’s quite troubling.

With a stroke of the pen, Joe Biden became the first president in United States history to pardon his own son for criminal activity. While the Constitution grants presidents this power, such a move is unprecedented in modern history for the simple reason that it has all the appearances of favouritism and abuse of power.

It was for this reason that President Biden originally vowed not pardon Hunter. Here’s his press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre assuring the press pack repeatedly of that promise:

 

 

And here’s 10 minutes of a fawning media praising President Biden for the incredible character and integrity he displayed in that decision: 

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Some have drawn parallels with Donald Trump’s pardoning of his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, in 2020. However, at the time of that pardon, Kushner had already served prison time and paid a steep fine, making the pardon largely symbolic. By contrast, Hunter was yet to be sentenced and was facing up to US$1.3 million in tax evasion fines and years behind bars.

Another troubling layer to the Biden pardon is the timeframe. The statute of limitations for most federal crimes is five years. In this case, however, Joe Biden set the pardon’s timeframe well beyond the years Hunter committed the crimes for which he has been convicted, all the way too… let’s see… the year he joined the board of the shady Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.

Moreover, Joe didn’t just pardon Hunter for those crimes but for any and all crimes his son committed over an 11-year period.

And now we arrived at the heart of the issue. Media coverage of Hunter’s tax evasion, gun felonies, drug use, sexual deviancy and other assorted vices have only ever served as a smokescreen for the far deeper corruption uncovered on his abandoned laptop.

As multiple congressional investigations have laid bare, Hunter made millions of dollars “working” in roles for which he was not qualified — roles that corrupt foreign actors were happy to grant since it gave them coveted access to the White House through then-Vice President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, Biden associates set up some 20 shell companies to ensure these earnings could be secretly funnelled into the Biden family treasury, with Joe Biden allegedly being a 10% recipient.

In the simplest terms, then, Joe Biden didn’t just pardon his son Hunter — he effectively pardoned himself.

In the words of Representative Jim Jordan, who played a leading role in the investigations into Biden family corruption, “Democrats said there was nothing to our impeachment inquiry. If that’s the case, why did Joe Biden just issue Hunter Biden a pardon for the very things we were inquiring about?”

An even more pointed question would be why House Democrats impeached Donald Trump in 2019 for crimes apparently committed by the Biden family.

In a story that gets curiouser and curiouser, many observers have noted that President Biden issued his pardon for Hunter less than 24 hours after Kash Patel — an outspoken critic of the Biden family’s foreign business dealings — was nominated as the new FBI Director.

Perhaps the most jaw-dropping aspect of the pardon is Joe Biden’s justification for it: that Hunter has been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted”. It’s hard to improve on this analysis by New York Post reporter Miranda Devine, who has followed the Biden corruption story closely:

The man who weaponised the justice system against Donald Trump now claims his pampered son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently… singled out only because he is my son.”

It’s true that Hunter was singled out — for favourable treatment. He and his father were protected by the DOJ, FBI, IRS, State Department and CIA while selling Joe’s influence to China, Ukraine, Russia etc.

In an amusing twist, the president explained away all his lies to the American people by lying about his lying: “For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth.”

If incoming President Donald Trump begins issuing pardons for pro-life activists, January 6 protesters and other Trump allies roughhoused by Biden’s DOJ, I don’t want to hear a whisper.

But hey, I won’t hold my breath.

Should President Biden have pardoned his son? 

Kurt Mahlburg is a writer and author, and an emerging Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He has a passion for both the philosophical and the personal, drawing on his background as a graduate architect, a primary school teacher, a missionary, and a young adult pastor.

Image credit: screenshot ABC News 

 

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  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-13 08:16:16 +1100
    Jurgen,

    Alexander Smirnov, key witness in the “Biden corruption probe” admitted he lied and made it all up. Will YOU admit you were wrong? Or will continue to spout Russian propaganda?
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-12-06 04:27:48 +1100
    Is Jared not your friend, as you belong to the same church?

    Ps.: I hope Trump stops sending weapons to Israel. But here, I am sceptical.
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-12-06 04:24:17 +1100
    Well, the Saudis invested their funds into a private Equity company founded by Jared Kushner after he had left the White House.

    I remember that there was an investigational committee set up by the Senate to look into the issue for possible corruption.

    So why do you ask them?
  • David Page
    commented 2024-12-06 00:32:12 +1100
    Why was it that the Saudis gave Trump’s daughter and son-in-law 2 billion dollars? Trump would have used the ‘Justice’ Department to torment Hunter for the amusement of his followers.
  • Steven Meyer
    commented 2024-12-05 13:38:06 +1100
    mrscaracker,

    The point I was trying to make is how easy it is for people to get themselves caught up in crazy ideas. In my sister’s example, literally crazy.

    But I’ll give you two contemporary examples.

    The first is that it’s OK for trans-women – call them XY women – to compete with XX women in women’s sports. This is insane – especially when it comes to contact sports such as football or boxing.

    The second is the anti-vaxers. No, there is no link between autism and the MMR shot.

    Both of these ideas are contrary to all the evidence. But they persist.

    Interesting fact tho’ if you follow sports. When it comes to marathons the differences between men and women are quite small. It seems that if it’s a case of stamina rather than brute strength the playing field is much more even.

    Since marathon running is not a contact sport there’s no reason why men and women should not run simultaneously. In one amateur unisex marathon I attended in Melbourne as a spectator, there were separate prizes for men and women as well as prizes for absolute position. As it happens a man came in first but women took second and third place.

    So it goes.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-05 02:27:12 +1100
    Didn’t Trump also pardon Ivanka’s father in law? And then offer him an ambassadorship?
    Kurt, I wait with bated breath for your commentary on this grossly unethical pardoning of a family member. (Think I’ll be holding for a while, though)
  • mrscracker
    Thank you for sharing that story about your sister’s experience Mr. Steven. The internet provides numerous opportunities for scammers but it can at least make looking up identities easier.
    You have a blessed day!🙏
  • Janet Grevillea
    commented 2024-12-04 19:25:17 +1100
    Now will Biden pardon Julian Assange. The Australia Prime Minister has asked him to. https://johnmenadue.com/will-joe-biden-pardon-julian-assange/
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-12-04 17:49:33 +1100
    Minor …. But the other guy…

    Which leads to the obvious conclusion:
    … All religious people are useful idiots.

    I have difficulties in understanding your, I concede in admiration, highly intelligent reasoning, so:

    Please explain again who the useful idiot is.
  • Steven Meyer
    commented 2024-12-04 12:58:17 +1100
    David Virtue, Emberson Fedders,

    Of course Biden’s corruption is minor league compared to Trump.

    But even that minor league corruption would have raised a firestorm within my lifetime. Nobody would be trying to defend it.

    The fact that corruption has become normalised across the political spectrum is what’s worrying.

    And Kurt Mahlburg is typical. His schoolboy playground response of:

    “Nyaah, nyaah, you always accused our guy of being corrupt, well gotcha”

    makes him and other self-righteous, sanctimonious Christians as much part of the problem as the self-righteous sanctimonious lefties.

    Really, a pox on ALL religios including adherents of secular religions. You’re all useful idiots. Nothing more.

    Seneca was on the money:

    Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

    That means ALL religions including secular ones.
  • David Virtue
    commented 2024-12-04 12:12:26 +1100
    How many of the 25.5 million Americans who own AR15s would fill out the form saying they had tried drugs, most of them evangelicals. Biden is a minor league abuser. As for the other charges, Trump has them all in spades. This is called pot and kettle. The hypocrisy of republicans is boundless.
  • Emberson Fedders
    commented 2024-12-04 11:10:58 +1100
    It was wrong to pardon his son. But the worrying thing is that Trump can now use this as a cover for pardoning ACTUAL criminals who attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in a democracy.

    And Kurt, if that does happen (and you know it will), you’ll be hearing more than a whisper.
  • Steven Meyer
    commented 2024-12-04 11:08:11 +1100
    mrscracker, my sister worked for three years as resident psychologist in a medical facility in a country I shall not name. Suffice to say it was a Western country that was not the US or Australia.

    This was long before social media or the internet.

    The management of the facility said they had arranged a series of lectures by a distinguished professor of psychology who had some radical ideas about treating mental illness.

    I’ll call the visitor “Professor Lochimkopf”

    After the first lecture my sister expressed some doubts about the Lochimkopf’s sanity. She was ridiculed as a “stick in the mud” who couldn’t bear having her preconceived ideas “challenged” by “new thinking”.

    Keeping it short, turned out that Lochimkopf was an imposter. Worse he was a serial imposter and fraudster who had escaped prison by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity and being confined involuntarily to a mental asylum from which he had escaped. The actual professor, whose identity he had stolen, and who was on the staff of the mental asylum to which Lochimkopf had been confined, was not impressed.

    “How could anyone with medical training take this b******* seriously?” he demanded.

    And how had my sister exposed Lochimkopf? What brilliant detective work did it take?

    She had phoned Lochimkopf’s university and spoken to the real Lochimkopf.

    So it goes.
  • Steven Meyer
    commented 2024-12-04 09:29:12 +1100
    I’m certainly not going to defend a president pardoning his own son.

    But neither am I going to defend a president pardoning any family member.

    Nor a president-elect vowing to pardon insurrectionists.

    Sadly, all this does is demonstrate, yet again, the all-pervasive corruption of US politics.

    Am I the only one who remembers Eisenhower firing his chief of staff for accepting an expensive coat as a gift?

    Or my very distant relative, Abe Fortas for being forced to resign from SCOTUS for behaviour that has since become normal for the so-called “justices”.

    At least Abe wasn’t pretending to be some pious religio.

    Sad :(
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-04 06:13:59 +1100
    Jurgen neglects to mention that the corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor was threatened by other nations, as well – it wasn’t just a Biden thing. Viktor Shokin was his name.

    Will Jurgen ever admit that he uncritically spouts Russian propaganda?
  • Jürgen Siemer
    commented 2024-12-04 06:04:13 +1100
    There was once an Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated Burisma for I do not know what, probably some financial crimes / corruption.

    Ukraine enjoyed a “special” relationship with the US. The vice-president of the US was Joe Biden; he was in “responsible” for managing the US relations with Ukraine.

    Biden threatened the Ukrainian government to withhold US “aid”, a substantial loan with very attractive terms, if the Ukrainian government would not fire that “corrupt” posecutor.

    They did.

    Burisma paid Biden’s son.

    Everything well known, documented, even publically confirmed by Joe Biden himself.

    Will you ever acknowledge, that the Biden FAMILY is corrupt?
  • mrscracker
    That was a great quote from Mayor Daley, Mr. O’Brien.
    :)
    Thank you. It reminds me of when Gov. Huey Long was accused of stealing money while in office. He told his constituents that sure, he had stolen but he’d shared it with them. Which was true.
    It’s refreshing when corrupt politicians are at least transparent about their corruption.
  • mrscracker
    Hello Mr. Mouse, we used to attend a church not far from a state psychiatric hospital. A number of its former inmates rented rooms in a hotel nearby. Trust me, we’ve had encounters as you’ve described & unless people became violent they were tolerated kindly.
    I don’t know how many prolife folks are mentally unwell but my guess is there are some out there. Reform movements like abolition & the prolife movement can attract those who are well intentioned but a little off balance.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-04 02:53:53 +1100
    oh mrscracker, those “prolife” people did more than “trespass” – they verbally harassed people seeking a medical procedure. I’m sure if I stood outside your church yelling and screaming about how you’re going to burn in hell for keeping the Sabbath on a Sunday (guessing you’re not a 7th day Adventist for the purposes of this analogy you’d think I was doing more than just “trespassing”.
  • mrscracker
    I was thinking of the prolife folks who trespassed Mr. Mouse but yes, that clemency could include the misguided people on January 6th as well. If they additionally created damage to public property & acts of vandalism they should be held accountable for those. Ditto for prolife people who squirt glue in keyholes. It’s against the law but would be more fittingly handled by local jurisdictions as misdemeanors.
    We don’t haul the homeless off that way for trespassing & blocking businesses. Goodness knows we have a surplus of the mentally unwell who shout threats & go down conspiracy rabbit holes. Some occupy our streets, some the Capitol building.
  • Patrick Obrien
    commented 2024-12-04 00:32:34 +1100
    The late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley was once caught steering city contracts to his son. Confronted by hard-boiled Chicago reporters, Mayor Daley looked straight at them and said, “If a father can’t help his son, who can he help?”
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-03 23:35:18 +1100
    “Locked up for trespassing” You forgot building a gallows and chanting “Hang Mike Pence” outside the Capitol mrscracker. Also smearing of feces in office spaces.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-03 23:29:39 +1100
    Donald was addicted to committing financial crimes (convicted by a jury of his peers on 34 counts of tax fraud, if I am not mistaken). Maybe a good term in prison would help rehab that behavior.
  • mrscracker
    Well it is within a president’s power to do that and I’m not surprised really. Hopefully Donald Trump uses his presidency to pardon those folks who were locked up for trespassing and we can all move forward.
    Hunter Biden may be an unsympathetic character but addiction doesn’t enable good decisions, nor good behavior. And affluence just buys you more drugs and more opportunities to misbehave. Incarceration , for all its perils, can be lifesaving for some addicts and a path to recovery. In the absence of long term involuntary rehabilitation, prison is the only rehab available for the poor.
    I hope for his sake and the sake of his family Hunter finds healing.
  • Anon Emouse
    commented 2024-12-03 23:08:40 +1100
    Kurt,

    Given your lack of comments on any of the pardons Trump handed out at the end of his term, or Trump’s own vow of using the DoJ to get “retribution” against his enemies, I’m going to take this article of yours at face value: partisan hackery.
  • Kurt Mahlburg
    published this page in The Latest 2024-12-03 21:34:53 +1100

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