Independent West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a former Democrat, has said that President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter would have been “more balanced” had he also pardoned President-elect Donald Trump.
“As a father, I don’t know a father that wouldn’t have done the same thing,” Manchin told CNN Monday.
“What I would have done differently, and my recommendation as a counsel would have been, ‘Why don’t you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump, for all his charges?’” he added. “It would have gone down a lot more balanced, if you will. I’m just saying, wipe them out,” apparently referring to Biden’s critics.
Biden announced the pardon of Hunter in a Sunday statement, arguing that the charges brought against his son, which include a federal gun conviction and a guilty plea to tax charges, were politically motivated to harm him.
“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,” said Biden.
The president and his spokespeople have repeatedly said that he wouldn’t pardon his son.
“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,” said Biden. “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.”
Manchin said the pardon “makes it difficult” to evaluate Biden’s legacy.
Trump was quick to react to the pardon Sunday, writing on Truth Social: “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 former president was referring to those who took part in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
Trump has often said at campaign he plans to pardon at least several of the rioter. He also may attempt to pardon himself once in office to eradicated the federal charges for his role in the insurrection and his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Special Counsel Jack Smith, however, has already moved to dismiss both cases because of the Justice Department’s policy of not prosecuting sitting presidents.
“These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought,” Trump said on Truth Social last Monday. “Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before.”
As president, Trump pardoned a number of prominent figures, such as the real estate executive Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump recently appointed the elder Kushner to be his ambassador to France.
Trump also pardoned his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, longtime ally Roger Stone, and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
