- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- politics@lemmy.world
Summary
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, reversing his prior stance against using executive clemency.
The pardon covers Hunter’s federal gun conviction and tax evasion guilty plea, sparking political controversy.
Biden cited political attacks and a “miscarriage of justice” as reasons for his decision, emphasizing his son’s recovery from addiction and the targeting of his family.
Critics argue the move undermines the judicial process, while supporters view it as within Biden’s constitutional powers.
This decision shields Hunter from potential prison time as Biden nears the end of his presidency.
A lot of people here missing the point. We don’t care about this because Hunter was the target of a witch hunt. The actual “crimes” weren’t impactful at all. The Republicans literally spent 8 years dragging him through the mud, digging for anything that he could be charged with, just because who his dad is. And Hunter didn’t even touch politics in the slightest.
The gun charge is the moral equivalent of crucifying someone for having pirated music on their hard drive. It was a nothing crime, never enforced, and the only reason it was in this case was because they happened to find something they could latch onto.
I don’t know anything about the tax evasion conviction. If it was serious, then sure, fuck him. But I’d want them going after every politician AND their family with equal vigor. But guess what? They aren’t.
That’s why most of us don’t really care. The man is not important. He holds no position of power, nor has he expressed any intent to. He is not important, except as a whipping boy for their propaganda. And a pardon for such preposterous prosecution is fine with me.
He was convicted in court by a jury of his peers same as every other American under charges would see. He wasnt convicted in some political “witch hunt” process in congress, nor was he convicted by an activist judge. The congressional investigation went nowhere and was shut down. Hunters convictions carried a sentence of 15 to 21 months. If his conviction is unfair and needs to be resisted then the entire system of justice in america is unfair.
thats not your call to make. This is just another case of hard justice being for the little people only, and you seem to be cheering that on. How low can you go, man. Biden spent a lifetime banging tables pretending to be a tough on crime guy. You seem to have forgotten all of that.
This never should have been before a jury.
The prosecution had agreed to drop the gun charge as apart of a plea bargain (because it’s a crime that is only ever used as an add-on for violent crimes). But the fucking judge rejected the plea deal after Biden had admitted guilt.
That’s bullshit and 100% should have been thrown out.
I’m not a lawyer, but I thought the way it worked was that the prosecutor offers the plea bargain and the accused accepts but it’s still up to the judge’s discretion whether that accepted plea bargain goes through, meaning that the system was working as it always works and it wasn’t some sort of special persecution deal.
The judge almost never throws out a plea bargain - and it’s almost unheard of for one to throw it out for not being harsh enough.
They’re more often rejected for thing like a plea bargain where the case should be dismissed entirely or the defendant has a very good chance of winning or securing a lesser conviction at trial. Judges are supposed to err on the side of leniency.
Rejecting a plea bargain because a charge that is almost never prosecuted is being dismissed is judicial malpractice.
The gun crime he was convicted for is one that anyone who has ever smoked pot is guilty of if they ever touched a gun before quitting pot entirely.
If a resident of Colorado eats a gummy legally and has a gun in the safe at home, they’ve committed the same crime.
If Conservatives cared about this law, all they would have to do is pull dispensary ID logs and probably a tenth or more of all gun applicants could be arrested. But they don’t do that because people don’t care, and they just want another law they can apply selectively.
So was Trump. But he got away with it and is now President. Hell, he didn’t even have to go through the process for most of his crimes. Just bypassed it all.
Nothing else matters now. The rest of your comment is irrelevant. The justice system is irrelevant.
Free Hunter!!!
First, did Bidden just notice that his son was a target of a “witch hunt” after the election? Or was he just lying before?
And second, Bidden literally controlled the DOJ for 4 years. It was his call whether to go after other corrupt politicians or not.
I think Biden was holding out hope in the institutions and people of America and was sorely disappointed, like a lot of us, so is doing what he has to, like a lot of us.
Bingo.
Biden was waiting to see if America’s institutions and citizens would hold up and pass the test. They did not. They failed spectacularly, in fact. A criminal became president and will now not be held accountable for his crimes, and citizens voted explicitly for that corruption.
I’d be damned if I was sitting president if I would let my son be in prison for non-violent crimes when a criminal who openly stated he would target his political opponents sits in the Oval Office.
Clearly taking the high road doesn’t work in America, so why the fuck should Biden continue doing so?
It is amazing to me how people will make excuses for a lying politician that even he did not bother to make.
What’s amazing to me is that you people fall for the rage bait every time.
Crocodile tears for this rich shitty little partier silver spooned brat, but anyone else convicted by a jury of their peers should go to jail where they belong, huh.
Then he’s an idiot who had no business in office in the first place.
But he’s not an idiot and he’s been in government for decades. On top of that, he lived through January 6th like the rest of us.
He just didn’t give a shit.
It’s common practice for outgoing presidents to wrap up loose ends like this. Late term pardons are not a new thing.
Yeah, but he’s a Democrat, so he’s held to higher standards than Republicans.
If a Republican did this you probably wouldn’t have even heard about it.
Do we need any better example than what just happened to know that Democrats are held to astronomically high standards, while Republicans can basically do whatever the fuck they want without repercussion?
She had to be flawless and he got to be lawless.
He did not just leave it for later, he actively lied saying he will not pardon Hunter.
And?
You gonna leave your son in prison while a criminal president who explicitly stated he’d target his political opponents sits in the Oval Office?
Republicans just blatantly lied their way into total power and you’re over here whining about a Democrat lying about getting his son out of prison for non-violent crimes on his way out of office?
Your priorities are utterly fucked.
I can simultaneously “whine” about multiple things. I guess I am talented at “whining”.
Also, this kind of shit is part of the reason why that orange won in the first place. Democrats putting up a marginally better candidate and pretending to be saviors of the Earth.
The calories you burned typing your complaint about Biden pardoning Hunter are wasted calories. It’s so irrelevant and small compared to the avalanche of bullshit we’ve already dealt with and will be dealing with for the foreseeable future, that it’s comical to even consider. The fact that Trump made it abundantly clear he’d be targeting his political opponents is all the justification needed for Biden to pardon Hunter.
And no, Democrats putting up a “marginally” better candidate is not how the orange dipshit won. First of all, a successful prosecutor with a doctorate in law and a significant political resume isn’t “marginally” better than a twice impeached convicted felon and rapist who instigated a violent insurrection and illegally attempted to overturn an election. I don’t know what dimension someone has to live in to think there’s only a “marginal” difference there. Secondly, the orange dipshit is president because Americans are STUPID. Because Americans don’t do their homework. Americans don’t lookup voting histories so they can see that Democrats are way better about voting in favor of the working class. They don’t look up the conviction histories to find out Democrats have WAY, WAY less convicted criminals who have served in their ranks than Republicans. Americans don’t grasp that you aren’t just voting for the person, but the party. Donald Trump is president…again…because Americans are STUPID. Not because Democrats are only “marginally” better.
Meh, I can use fewer calories.
Can’t argue there.
You literally vote for specific people in the US, unlike in many countries where you vote for parties. That’s the whole point of your incredibly flawed representatives system. Saying people should vote Harris because of her party is like saying people should buy the terrible and useless apple vision because other apple products are good.
To most people, those sound like red flags, not advantages.
I mean, yeah. Americans are stupid. But then again, why should anyone believe those accusations if democrats argue lying is perfectly fine and not an issue?
If you don’t think a party gains power by their represenative becoming president, I’m not really sure how to proceed with explaining it to you.
Refer to my comment about Americans being STUPID. Then check her resume. She spent A LOT of time going after assholes that made people’s lives harder.
Because they aren’t accusations. They are facts. And facts matter. Not to stupid Americans, but to some people out there in the world.
I mean, true, but does it matter? The new president spits out dozens of lies daily and he got voted in. If anything, this is what the people want, someone who lies to them.
If it doesn’t matter, why is everyone angry at the people who didn’t vote? :D
Because they enabled this system where nothing matters?
This, I think, is what bothers me. I understand the reasoning but still… The pardoning, no surprise. The lying, makes me a bit sad. I understand the reasoning but it still makes me sad.
Guess he changed his mind.
Im uninformed so I know nothing of Hunter’s supposed crimes. Can I get a quick rundown?
If you’re being serious, the gun charge is that he checked some box on a gun application stating that he didn’t have any drug addiction problems. IIRC, it was after he got his shit together and was sober.
I didn’t follow the tax evasion charge.
I honestly have no in depth knowledge of any of this stuff
If you can’t even be bothered to read an article about it why should any weight be given to your opinion. The tax fraud was 1.4 million dollars and he actively lied on his returns to avoid payment. He effectively stole over a million dollars, fuck him and all tax cheats.
Ok. What part of that conflicts with what I said?
If he cheated on taxes, then fuck him. But I think it’s generally assumed that these fucks all cheat on their taxes. So if you’re going to go after one, then go after all of them.
And again, he’s not actually a politician, and was only targeted because of who his dad is. If you don’t see that as abuse of authority as revenge against his dad, then there’s no point in talking to you.
Also, if you read the fucking article yourself, it never goes into details on the tax charges.
There is no “if,” he did cheat on his taxes for over a million dollars. Yes, go after all of them! The only reason Hunter got away for so long was because of who his dad is, so kind of karmic that it came back around for the same reason. Hunter received far more leniency for a long time for drugs, gun, and financial crimes due to his wealth and families influence and Joe Biden was instrumental in making sure poor people who do the same thing get punished harshly. Until it was HIS son, then all the excuses came out.
This article does not, but none of this is new. We have known about these crimes for years. You displayed absolutely zero curiosity about what crimes he did in your haste to whitewash Biden’s hypocrisy. We will not get better politicians or leaders until we demand it.
I do not care that Hunter was not a politician, though that never prevented him from getting paid off his family name and only avoided punishment for so long because of who his father is. I do not care why the charges come about, these rich fucks need to pay. Maybe if the Democrats were willing to see that the rich and powerful actually face consequences Trump and all these right wing grifters might have been dealt with before they came to power. But back when Trump and Kushner were donating to Democratic campaigns none of them managed to give a shit. We should strive for a higher standard of morality than Donald fucking Trump.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden :
"Biden was a founding board member of BHR Partners, a Chinese investment company, in 2013, and later served on the board of Burisma Holdings, one of the largest private natural gas producers in Ukraine, from 2014 until his term expired in April 2019. He has worked as a lobbyist and legal representative for lobbying firms, a hedge fund principal, and a venture capital and private equity fund investor. "
“Biden was hired to help Burisma with requesting assistance from the U.S government to expand its business and corporate governance best practices,”