Liberal Line on Biden Pardon: The Devil Donald Trump Made Him Do It!

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The liberal line on President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter was clear: The Devil Donald Trump made him do it! On Tuesday’s CNN This Morning, former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield said that Biden’s pardon on Hunter was “totally defensible,” given Trump’s alleged plans to go after opponents in the new administration.

As she put it:

Biden was responding to what Donald Trump himself and his appointees like Kash Patel have said about how they intend to use the Justice Department.

Bedingfield expressed understanding of why Democrats were frustrated that Biden was not more “forthcoming” about his plans, and she wished that Biden had expressed his “ambiguity” over his intentions about a pardon differently. 

There was absolutely nothing ambiguous about what Biden said. In the most unambiguous terms possible, Biden flat-out lied through his teeth, repeatedly saying, and ordering his mouthpieces to say, that he definitely would not pardon Hunter.

The New York Times had adopted a similar blame-Trump line. NYT White House correspondent Katie Rogers had said [emphasis added]:

I think that Biden’s thinking on this has evolved as outside circumstances have changed. He was adamant that he would not issue a pardon as president in the summer, when Hunter was convicted on federal gun charges. But a lot has changed as summer turned into fall. Biden dropped out of the presidential race. The vice president’s campaign failed, and a former president, Donald Trump, was elected while promising to stock his administration with vengeful characters who were making no secret of their interest in going after political enemies.

Bedingfield said: “The idea that Biden has somehow opened the door for Trump to do things that he was not otherwise going to do is completely ludicrous.”

Let’s flip that notion back around on Bedingfield and Rogers. Are you saying that if Trump had lost and Kamala had won, Biden would not have pardoned Hunter? Evidence?

There was a moment of levity, courtesy Republican strategist Matt Gorman:

Honestly, I would have respected it more if he just said, know what? Bleep you people. I’m not letting my son rot in prison.

Here’s the transcript Click “expand” to read:

CNN This Morning
12/3/24
6:04 am ET

KATE BEDINGFIELD: I think the idea that Biden has somehow opened the door for Trump to do things that he was not otherwise going to do is completely ludicrous. I mean, it is Trump who has completely thrown norms out the window here for the now, now almost last decade. 

In many ways, I think Biden was responding to, you know, what Donald Trump himself and his appointees like Kash Patel have said about how they intend to use the Justice Department. And I think, look, I think it’s understandable that a father would make that decision. 

KASIE HUNT: But for 10, 11 years?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, but I do think, look, I wish that he had been, I wish that he had conveyed differently, that he was thinking, that he was considering doing this. I do think it is, you know, I think there are different ways to convey ambiguity when you have not made a decision. 

I think even after the election, having his team say he wasn’t going to do this. You know, I do think there is a cost that comes with that. And I wish that he had done that differently. 

. . . 

I do understand why Democrats are frustrated that Biden was not more forthcoming about how he was thinking about this.

. . . 

MATT GORMAN: And honestly, I would have respected it more if he just said, know what? Bleep you people. I’m not letting my son rot in prison during my, you know, who knows, like in the last decade of life, possibly. I’m not letting that happen. I don’t care. I have the power to do it.

. . . 

BEDINGFIELD: I think the pardon itself, I will say, I think is totally defensible. And I think given the way that Trump has talked about what he intends to do, I think it’s defensible. I do wish that he had had framed it differently.