White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a curt “no” when asked by a reporter at Thursday’s press briefing if President Biden would consider pardoning his son Hunter, who is embroiled In a tax case and a gun charge brought by federal prosecutors.
As we reported, a sweetheart plea deal Hunter’s lawyers had negotiated with the Department of Justice exploded spectacularly Wednesday when the judge raised questions about the blanket immunity Hunter would receive.
Fox News reporter Mark Meredith asked if the president would consider intervening:
MEREDITH: I know you said not a lot has changed since yesterday and that it’s a personal matter, but from a presidential perspective, is there any possibility that the President would end up pardoning his son?
KJP: No.
MEDEDITH: [Tries to pose a follow-up question, she cuts him off.]
KJP: I just said no–I just answered. [Points to another reporter.] Go ahead, go ahead.
Watch:
My first takeaway is, my God, what a rude person she is. These people are doing their jobs, which is asking questions about the occupant of the highest elected office in the land and his indicted son. Meanwhile, she is paid (by taxpayers) to answer questions, not bully people and snap at them like that for perfectly legitimate queries.
Watch her face as a reporter asks if Joe Biden knew contemporaneously that Hunter wasn’t paying his taxes. She looks irritated and annoyed that a journalist would dare to ask her about subjects she doesn’t want to talk about:
Of course, she refused to answer his questions — “We’re not going to comment on this” — and treated him as if he was a misbehaving schoolboy instead of a grown adult. “I’ve answered this question; nothing has changed from the statement I made yesterday,” she said, adding, “This is an independent investigation being led by a Trump-appointed prosecutor…”
She loves to throw that one out, that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the man in charge of investigating the president’s son, has the job because former President Donald Trump put him there. It’s meant to undermine the legitimacy of Weiss by implying that he would show bias toward the Bidens because of his loyalty to Trump. Weiss has shown no such thing and has, in fact, shown an unbelievably favorable attitude toward Hunter Biden, as evidenced by the sweetheart plea deal that fell through.
KJP laughably denied that Hunter was receiving special treatment from the DOJ:
“Absolutely not,” she answers when asked if Hunter was being treated with kid gloves. What’s funny is that you could read this as her saying, “Absolutely not, I am unable to categorically deny that,” but it’s clear from what she said next that that’s not what she meant:
Absolutely not. The Department of Justice is independent, the president respects the rule of law, he’s been saying that since before he was president, and that will remain the case.
When she answers questions in this fashion, denying that something exists (special treatment for Hunter) when the evidence is overwhelming and growing by the day, it makes people question everything else she says. When she curtly denies that the president would pardon his son, do we believe her? KJP usually dodges most queries, so it was surprising that she was so direct in her answer about pardoning–does she know something we don’t? Has Biden actually said this to her?
Even if he did tell her that, however, it’s certainly not binding, and he can always change his mind if things continue to go south.
Perhaps it is because she thinks Hunter actually won’t need a pardon, as Twitter user Collin Rugg pointed out in the tweet at the beginning of this article:
Why would Hunter Biden need to be pardoned when the Department of ‘Justice’ is actively working to protect the Biden Crime Family?