On Wednesday, a prominent House Democrat criticized President Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, arguing that the president failed to uphold his commitment to allow the judicial process to play.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) expressed his views to reporters in the Capitol, stating, “As a father, I understand it. And I get it. But as someone who has spent a lot of time at this podium talking about the importance of respecting the rule of law, it’s disappointing.”
Aguilar clarified that his remarks did not represent the entire caucus, which had gathered privately earlier that day following Biden’s surprising announcement of the pardon on Sunday.
Rep. Aguilar voices disappointment over Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden
He condemned the president for breaking his prior promises not to interfere in Hunter’s legal matters, suggesting that this complicates the Democrats’ ability to criticize President-elect Trump and his future administration regarding potential legal violations or interference with justice.
“The president gave his word,” Aguilar remarked. “He said publicly that he wasn’t going to give a pardon, and then he did. So that part’s disappointing. I believed him when he said he wasn’t.”
Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter has drawn intense criticism from both sides of the political aisle and adds another chapter to the ongoing controversy surrounding Hunter Biden, whose legal issues have shadowed his father’s presidency since before Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election.
In June, a jury convicted Hunter Biden on three felony counts for providing false information about his drug use on a gun application. More recently, he pleaded guilty to nine additional felony counts related to tax evasion and other financial misconduct, with sentencing hearings scheduled for later this month.
Throughout his campaign for a second term, Biden had consistently stated that he would not interfere with these legal matters. However, he changed course on Sunday, granting his son broad immunity for any offenses committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1 of this year. The president defended his decision by asserting that Hunter was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
“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 stated.
This action faced immediate backlash from Republicans, who accused the president of abusing his authority to undermine justice. Trump echoed this sentiment, using Biden’s decision as a rationale for his own promise to offer clemency to the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory.
“Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice!”
Aguilar is no stranger to the chaos surrounding the Capitol riot, having served on the select House committee that investigated Trump’s involvement, which concluded that the former president was the primary instigator of the attack and that those involved should be held accountable.
