The White House on Thursday was forced to confront slashing comments from a trusted former aide to President Biden who second-guessed the way he pardoned his son Hunter.
Anita Dunn, whose counsel was so valuable to Biden that she advised during two stints and was the first top aide to leave after he stepped back for the Kamala Harris handover, delivered the tough dose of criticism of her former boss at a post-election summit.
That made for an awkward stretch when White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked to defend the fire from within the tent, on a day Biden pardoned 39 people and commuted the sentences of 1,500 people – a group of non-violent offenders that included an array of convicted fraudsters.
‘I absolutely agree with the president’s decision here. I do not agree with the way it was done,’ Dunn said at a New York Times / DealBook event that was posted online Wednesday. ‘I don’t agree with the timing, and I don’t agree frankly with the attack on our judicial system.’
‘Had this pardon been done at the end of the term in the context of compassion the way many pardons will be done, I’m sure – and many commutations will be done – I think it would have been a different story,’ she said.
Dunn also criticized strategic aspects of the timing, which undercut Democratic efforts to target Donald Trump’s FBI pick Kash Patel, who has vowed to go after the ‘deep state’ and printed an enemies list in his book.
‘In the middle of a Kash Patel weekend, kind of throwing this into the middle of it was exceptionally poor timing and … the argument is one that I think many observers are concerned about: A president who ran to restore the rule of law, who has upheld the rule of law, who has really defended the rule of law kind of saying, “Well, maybe not right now,”‘ Dunn said.
That remark focused on Biden’s claim that his son faced political persecution – effectively echoing Donald Trump’s attacks on the judicial system to help his son by justifying the pardon.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to confront criticism of the Hunter Biden from Anita Dunn, a close former advisor of the president
‘I will respond in this way. She also agreed that Hunter Biden, and I quote, absolutely deserves a pardon,’ Jean-Pierre responded when asked about it at her briefing Thursday. ‘So she supported that action.’
Then she immediately pivoted to Biden’s moves ‘providing the most individual commutations, and I think that matters,’ she said.
As it played out, Biden issued the blanket Hunter Biden pardon on tax and gun charges just before he headed to Africa on a trip, without answering the questions about the controversial move in any sustained fashion.
President-elect Donald Trump immediately seized on the move to renew his call to pardon January 6 offenders. He has since said that he will review each case, and pardon some of them within minutes of taking the Oath of Office.
Jean-Pierre’s comments came at a briefing where she didn’t rule out Biden offering ‘preemptive pardons’ to officials who Donald Trump considers political enemies, such as Hillary Clinton and former Rep. Liz Cheney.
That follows reports that such pardons are on the table as a way to protect people who might be prosecuted by Trump.
Trump has said Cheney, who backed Kamala Harris after helping run the House January 6 Committee, should be in jail. She voted to impeach Trump in the House.
‘It would be a bad move on my behalf if I preempted the president or previewed anything that the president was thinking about considering and so, this is something he is going to talk with his team about and I just don’t have anything beyond that for you,’ said Jean-Pierre.
Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter shortly before taking a trip to Africa. He claimed Hunter was singled out for prosecution in a statement that criticized the Justice Department
She had to answer repeated questions about the Hunter Biden pardon, on a day the White House announced 39 pardons and 1,500 commutations.
Those 1,500 were all identified as on-violent offenders who were sent to home-confinement during the pandemic, although some were convicted of offenses ranging from posession with intent to distribute drugs to Medicare fraud.
‘They successfully integrated into their families, into their communities,’ she said of the people who got commutations.
Nor would she get into the process of who got on the list and how, or even whether Biden read a file on each one. ‘What I can say is this president made this decision,’ she said.
