Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) says President Biden’s determination to pardon his son, Hunter, in his closing full month in workplace was a “tragic moment in American political history.”
“I’m afraid we’re taking some really dark turns,” Phillips instructed NewsNation’s “On Balance” in an interview on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump abused pardons. Joe Biden has now done the same, and frankly, most presidents do,” he added. “I think it’s time for some reform.”
Phillips, who briefly ran a long-shot Democratic presidential bid, believes there’s a possibility for Biden to “make some statements and apologies for his missteps that would help the Democratic Party.”
Beforehand, the president had remained adamant that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter, who pleaded responsible to tax evasion expenses in September. He was additionally convicted in a separate felony gun case in June. He has requested for each instances to be dropped following his father’s pardon.
In his clemency announcement, the president known as his son’s remedy a “miscarriage of justice” and pointed to political motivation behind his son’s expenses.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” he mentioned in a press release Sunday. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
“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,” the president continued. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.”
He added, “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”i
The transfer has rattled Republicans and Democrats alike on Capitol Hill and past.
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