Former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill expressed frustration over President Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter. She worried about the “ammunition” this decision provides to Trump supporters.
“When I saw this pardon last night, I kind of wished I wasn’t going to be on TV today,” McCaskill told Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House.” “Although, if I was going to be on TV, I’m sure glad I’m on TV with you.”
McCaskill admitted she understood Biden’s choice. “Do I understand Joe Biden’s pardon? Yes, completely. I get it. It’s completely understandable. But the ‘both sides’ folks out there have just gotten some really powerful ammunition. And for that reason, I hate it,” she said.
She described Biden as a “wonderful man” who deeply loves his family. Still, she regretted his repeated insistence that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter, only to change course. “For him to say repeatedly he would not do this and then do it, it allows the side of the mountain of lies and scandal … to say, ‘Well, see, he’s just the same, Joe Biden is no different,’” she remarked.
McCaskill maintained that Biden is fundamentally different from Trump. “Yes, Joe Biden is different than Donald Trump. He is not the same,” she stated. “I just wish that Biden would have said all along, ‘I will pardon my son because this is a political persecution.’ The fact that he said he wouldn’t and that he did now, I hate that. I just hate it.”
Biden’s announcement came Sunday night, where he claimed the charges against Hunter were unfair. “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden said in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
This decision followed years of assurance from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that Biden would respect the outcomes of Hunter’s trials. The sudden pardon surprised many.
Criticism came from within Democratic circles as well. Former Congressman Joe Walsh voiced his concerns on MSNBC. “For those of us who have been out there for a few years now yelling about what a unique threat Donald Trump is, for Joe Biden to do something like this: nobody’s above the law, we’ve been screaming,” Walsh said.
He continued, “Donald Trump lies every time he opens his mouth, we’ve been screaming. Joe Biden repeatedly lied about this. The politicization of the justice system, Donald Trump and his people have been screaming. That’s exactly what Biden said here.”