A former top adviser to President Biden slammed Hunter Biden's pardon earlier this month, calling it an “attack on our justice system.”
Anita Dunn, a longtime Biden ally and former senior communications adviser, said she supported the decision to pardon the 54-year-old son, but not on the basis that the president would justify it.
“I completely agree with the president's decision here. I don't agree with the approach. I don't agree with the timing, and frankly I don't agree with the attack on our justice system.” Mr. Dunn spoke at the New York Times' annual Dealbook Summit. Posted on Wednesday.
Mr Dunne argued that Mr Hunter “deserves” a pardon, but that “anything like an argument or rationale” for it would not pass muster.
“I think this discussion concerns many observers,” the former White House official added. “A president who ran to restore the rule of law, a president who has supported the rule of law, a president who has really championed the rule of law, is now saying, 'Well, maybe not now.' It’s a thing.”
Biden, 82, said in an announcement last week that he was pardoning Hunter because he has been “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” for federal gun and tax crimes.
A Delaware jury found Hunter Biden guilty of three felonies in June after he lied about a crack cocaine addiction on a federal gun purchase application in 2018.
In September, the eldest son was also charged with three felonies for evading $1.4 million in payments to the IRS by spending it on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, and clothing.” Pleaded guilty to nine tax charges. and other personal items.
The president's sweeping pardon applies to any crimes Hunter committed or may have committed between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024.
This comes after several vehement denials from White House officials and Biden himself that Hunter would be pardoned.
Dunn said White House officials were “not involved in this process” and suggested that Biden's family and legal counsel had concluded that Hunter should be pardoned.
“If this pardon had been done at the end of the term, in the context of compassion, as many pardons are done, I'm sure there would have been a lot of commutations and it would have been a different story,” she said. said. .
