Biden’s pardon of Hunter defended by White House as Trump taps in-laws amid presidential transition: Live

Hunter Biden was convicted in June of lying on a federal form when he purchased a gun in 2018 and swore that he wasn’t a drug user. Just months later, he pleaded guilty to charges accusing him of a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes. Prosecutors alleged he lived lavishly while flouting the tax law, spending his cash on things like strippers and luxury hotels — “in short, everything but his taxes.”

Both cases stemmed from a period in Hunter Biden’s life in which he struggled with drug and alcohol abuse before becoming sober in 2019.

After the gun trial aired salacious and unflattering details about Hunter Biden’s life, the president’s son said he agreed to plead guilty to the tax charges to spare his family another embarrassing criminal trial.

The tax trial was also expected to showcase details about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which Republicans have seized on to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt.

Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in the two cases by judges in California and Delaware who were nominated to the bench by Trump.

Special counsel David Weiss’ office had not said whether prosecutors had planned to seek prison time. The tax charges carried up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges were punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible the younger Biden would have avoided prison time entirely.

Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis has slammed President Joe Biden for choosing “his family ahead of the country” after he pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, despite previously stating he would not do so.

The president sent shockwaves through the political world on Sunday night when he announced his decision to grant his son clemency, claiming that he had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” by the Justice Department.

“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,” Biden said.

Polis, who publicly called for Biden to step off the Democratic party’s ticket in July, was among the first Democrats to voice their disapproval.

The Colorado governor used Biden’s own words against him following Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts in May, stating that “no one is above the law.”

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Former US attorney general Eric Holder says that Hunter Biden’s pardon by his father was “warranted.”

“Here’s the reality,” he wrote on X. “No USAtty (attorney) would have charged this case given the underlying facts. After a 5 year investigation the facts as discovered only made that clear.

“Had his name been Joe Smith the resolution would have been - fundamentally and more fairly - a declination. Pardon warranted.”

Holder went on to take aim at Donald Trump’s nomination for FBI Director, writing: “Ask yourself a vastly more important question. Do you really think Kash Patel is qualified to lead the world’s preeminent law enforcement investigative organization? Obvious answer: hell no.”

Yes. In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner. He also pardoned multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Trump over the weekend announced plans to nominate the elder Kushner to be the U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.

President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton in 2001, after he had completed a prison term for drug charges.

Clinton also pardoned his former business partner Susan McDougal, who had been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the Whitewater real estate deal.

Donald Trump was seen meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara Netanyahu at his Florida golf club on Sunday.

The meeting comes as Senator Lindsey Graham has said that the president-elect wants to secure an Israel-Gaza ceasefire before he takes office.

According to Graham, Trump “wants a deal to free the hostages and end the war as soon as possible, preferably before he takes office,” Axios reported.

“Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage deal,” Graham told Axios. “He wants to see it happening now.”

“I want people in Israel and in the region to know that Trump is focused on the hostages issue. He wants the killing to stop and the fighting to end.”

Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks has sided with President Joe Biden over his decision to pardon his son Hunter, saying he was only prosecuted because of his last name.

Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday, she said she is “relieved and thrilled” that Biden did it.

“This was one of the cases that called out for clemency,” she said.

“Hunter Biden, first of all, would not ever be prosecuted for the gun crime but for his last name. Second of all, he was addicted, and that was a cause of his actions.

“He has now been sober for many years, and this is a time when it is really appropriate for a grant of clemency.”

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton has compared Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s nomination for head of FBI, to one of the Soviet Union’s most feared and brutal secret police chiefs.

“Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty Beria,” Bolton said, speaking to NBC News’ “Meet The Press” on Sunday. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0.”

NKVD refers to the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union, which was in place from 1934 to 1946.

Lavrentiy Beria was appointed by Joseph Stalin as deputy chief of the Soviet secret police and was head of the Soviet atomic bomb project, according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation.

He is known for his violent tactics, including kidnapping, torture and rape, which he used to advance within the ranks of the secret police.

Having won the election and sweeping to power, Republicans are planning an ambitious 100-day agenda with President-elect Donald Trump in the White House and GOP lawmakers in a congressional majority to accomplish their policy goals.

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