Biden still believes 'no one is above the law,' White House says in wake of Hunter pardon
The White House today defended President Biden's declaration in May that "no one is above the law" amid criticism of his sweeping pardon Sunday evening for son Hunter Biden following a yearslong legal saga revolving around two criminal cases.
"Yes," a White House official told Fox News Digital on Monday when asked if Biden still believes "no one is above the law" after pardoning his son. "As he said in his statement, he has deep respect for our justice system. And as a wide range of legal experts have pointed out, this pardon is indisputably within his authority and warranted by the facts of the case."
Biden posted a message to X back on May 31, one day after President-elect Donald Trump was found guilty in the Manhattan criminal trial in May, that "No one is above the law."
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Following his pardon of Hunter Biden from a gun case and a tax case, conservatives and others resurrected the post on social media, with Reps. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Eli Crane, R-Ariz., for example, quipping that the rule of law applies to all Americans, "Unless your last name is Biden."
"You've been lied to every step of the way by this Administration and the corrupt Biden family. This is just the latest in their long coverup scheme. They never play by the same rules they force on everyone else. Disgraceful," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., declared in response to the old Biden post.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, posted, "This aged like fine milk."
Biden's May message that "no one is above the law" came as his son was preparing for his first criminal trial in Delaware, where he was accused of illegally purchasing a firearm. He was also facing another trial regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.
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Biden was found guilty on June 11 of lying about his drug use when purchasing a firearm in 2018. He was found guilty on three charges: making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. Hunter Biden had an extensive and well-documented history with addiction, which was best captured in his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things," which walked readers through his spirals with crack cocaine use.
Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a California court in September. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea.
Earlier this year, President Biden had publicly pledged at least twice that he would not pardon his son over the charges.
"Yes," President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case.
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Days later, following a jury finding Hunter guilty in the firearm case, the president again said he would not pardon his son.
"I am not going to do anything," Biden said after Hunter was convicted. "I will abide by the jury’s decision."
While conservatives lambasted Biden for pardoning his son after vowing he would not take that step, some attorneys came to Biden's defense over the pardon, including Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder.
Biden wrote in his statement announcing the pardon that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated.
"It is clear that Hunter was treated differently," Biden wrote in his statement.
"The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases."
"For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: 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," the president added.
Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report.