Trump, GOP lawmakers lambast Biden for pardoning son Hunter, call him 'most corrupt president'

GOP lawmakers slammed US President Joe Biden shortly after he pardoned his son Hunter Biden. The presidential pardon was seen as a major reversal for Biden, who repeatedly said that he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son and let the judicial system complete its process.

Leading the Republican crusade against Biden was President-elect Donald Trump’s Communication Director Steven Cheung, who reacted to the announcement without naming Biden or his son. “The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Cheung said in a statement.

“That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people,” he added. Shortly after Cheung’s remarks, Trump himself reacted to the news, calling it an “abuse” of the American justice system.

More from United States Of America

From father's advice to pastor's call: How Charlie Kirk's shooter Tyler Robinson was turned in to police Charlie Kirk: Killer still at large, motive uncertain; FBI releases photo with $100,000 reward

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” the President-elect wrote on TruthSocial. Meanwhile, many Republicans in the US Congress also attacked the decision, insisting that the Biden family is “avoiding accountability”.

GOP lawmakers slam Biden

Several Republican lawmakers called out Biden’s changed stance on the matter and compared it with the treatment Trump received. “His FBI and DOJ raided Barron’s bedroom and Melania’s closet at Mar-a-Lago,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said on X, referring to the federal raid on Trump’s home in Florida in connection with the now-dismissed classified documents case against Trump. “Joe Biden is a liar and a hypocrite, all the way to the end,” she added.

Hunter Biden broke gun laws, he broke the FARA Act, and worst of all, he broke the Mann Act by sex trafficking women across the country.

This pardon is Joe Biden’s admission that Hunter is a criminal.

Biden tried to throw President Trump’s sons in jail, but he lets his son off… pic.twitter.com/QoV3lqfMFe

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) December 2, 2024

Meanwhile, Arizona Representative Andy Biggs said that Biden “will go down as one of the most corrupt presidents in American history.” James Comer, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, called the decision “unfortunate”. “It’s unfortunate that rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability,” he said.

🚨STATEMENT ON PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN ISSUING A PARDON TO SON HUNTER BIDEN:

"Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities. Not only has he falsely claimed that he never met with his son’s foreign business associates and that his…

— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) December 2, 2024

It was Comer’s committee which sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending charges against Hunter Biden. Biden received backlash from Democratic congressmen as well. Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona said he thought Biden “got this one wrong.”

“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution,” Stanton said on X. “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers,” he added.

I’m shocked Pres Biden pardoned his son Hunter bc he said many many times he wouldn’t & I believed him Shame on me

— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) December 2, 2024

Hunter, who has been marred by a plethora of scandals, was scheduled to be sentenced on December 12. The political scion was facing conviction on federal gun charges. He was also slated to be sentenced on December 16 in a separate criminal case related to his federal tax evasion to which he pleaded guilty in September this year.

Why did Biden pardon his son?

In his statement, released on Sunday, the POTUS claimed that “raw politics has infected” the judicial system of the country. “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden said in the statement.

He also spoke about Hunter’s struggles with addiction. He insisted that his political opponents were trying to “break him” by going after his son. “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 in his statement. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” the president added.

The presidential pardon is expected to cover both the conviction and the guilty plea Hunter is involved in. What made Hunter’s case significant was the fact that this was the first time a child of a sitting president had been convicted in a criminal or a federal case. The move was surprising since for months, Biden maintained that he wouldn’t pardon his son and insisted that he trusts the justice system of the country.

In June, First Lady Jill Biden said that her husband would not pardon their son. “Joe and I both respect the judicial system, and that’s the bottom line,” she said in an interview. However, many believed that Biden did not pardon him immediately after the conviction since doing so would have ignited a political firestorm for him since he was still campaigning for re-election.