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Clearly, President Biden didn't mean it last June when he responded to a question from David Muir of ABC News about whether he would pardon his son, Hunter. "I am not going to do anything, I will abide by the jury's decision," the president said. He repeated that assertion on other occasions. So did his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, many more times.
On Monday, the day after the pardon, Jean-Pierre was asked by a reporter accompanying the president on his trip to Africa whether her and the president's previous statements should be considered lies. She responded: "One of the things the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people." Presumably she said this with a straight face. To paraphrase Bill Clinton in a different context, I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word truth is.
It will be clear to many that the president's original pledges were made before the election for political reasons. There was no way he was going to let Hunter go to prison, especially since he is privy to so much inside information about what Republicans believe to be corruption in the Biden family.
The Hunter pardon again proves George Orwell's line in his novel "Animal Farm": "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has been investigating for many months alleged corruption in the entire Biden family, from Hunter's highly-paid position as a board member of the Ukraine gas company Burisma — for which he had no experience in the energy industry — to the 20 LLC's which Comer believes to have been used for money laundering for the benefit of Biden family members, including "10 percent for the big guy" as Hunter apparently referred to his father.
The pardon covers all of that and likely more.
The claim "no one is above the law" should be discarded as untrue and never used again.
Biden's pardon of Hunter has led many to theorize there is something lurking underneath which is meant to also protect Hunter from charges that came to light in 2018.
Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler writes: "Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014. By pardoning Hunter for any crimes he ‘may have committed' from 2014-2024, Joe Biden is protecting his family's criminal cartel. Wow."
She added that Biden also seems to be protecting Hunter from Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to head the FBI. Patel has vowed to reform the law enforcement agency.
While the Constitution grants absolute pardon power to the president, it doesn't distinguish between those that are morally justifiable and those which are not. In theological circles, pardon is usually granted after repentance and statements of remorse. This acknowledges there is a law to which all people are expected to conform. To receive a pardon absent repentance makes a mockery of the law and suggests it can be unequally applied. The debate about our open southern border and the failure to enforce immigration laws is another form of legal inequality.
President Biden's pardon of his son will contribute to the growing cynicism many have about politics, politicians and Washington.
Fairness now demands that Biden pardon president-elect Trump, ensuring that the now former special counsel Jack Smith won't be able to resurrect charges he recently withdrew because of the Justice Department's policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. That would guarantee Trump is not prosecuted after the end of his second term.
I'm confident it will not happen.
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Cal Thomas, America's most-syndicated columnist, is the author of 10 books.