Cal Thomas: Breaking promises and public trust

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 5th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. On Sunday, president Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter. WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says it’s time to return to the political ideal of justice for all.

CAL THOMAS: Clearly, President Biden didn’t mean it last June when he responded to a question from David Muir of ABC News about whether he would pardon his son, Hunter.

MUIR: Will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is?

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Yes.

MUIR: And have you ruled out a pardon for your son?

BIDEN: Yes.

He repeated that assertion on other occasions. So did his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, many more times.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: We've been asked that question multiple times. | Our answer stands. Which is no, it's still a, no, it will be a, no, it is a no. And I don't have anything else to add. Will he? Pardon his son? No.

The day after the pardon, Jean-Pierre was asked by a reporter accompanying the president on his trip to Africa whether her and the president’s previous statements should be considered lies. She responded:

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: One of the things the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people. That is something that he always, truly believes.

Presumably she said this with a straight face. To paraphrase Bill Clinton in a different context, I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word truth is.

It will be clear to many that the president’s original pledges were made before the election for political reasons. There was no way he was going to let Hunter go to prison, especially since he is privy to so much inside information about what Republicans believe to be corruption in the Biden family.

The Hunter pardon again proves George Orwell’s line in his novel “Animal Farm”: 

AUDIO: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

Kentucky Republican Representative James Comer chairs the House Oversight Committee. He’s been investigating alleged Biden family corruption for months. From Hunter’s highly-paid position as a board member of the Ukraine gas company Burisma–even though he had no experience in the energy industry–to the 20 LLC’s Comer believes to have been used for money laundering for the benefit of Biden family members—including “10 percent for the big guy” as Hunter apparently referred to his father.

The pardon covers all of that and likely more.

The claim “no one is above the law” should be discarded as untrue and never used again. Biden’s pardon of Hunter has led many to theorize there is something lurking underneath which is meant to also protect Hunter from charges that came to light in 2018.

Conservative commentator Liz Wheeler writes: “Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014. By pardoning Hunter for any crimes he ‘may have committed’ from 2014-2024, Joe Biden is protecting his family’s criminal cartel. Wow.”

She adds that Biden also seems to be protecting Hunter from Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to head the FBI. Patel has vowed to reform the law enforcement agency.

President Biden’s pardon of his son will contribute to the growing cynicism many have about politics, politicians, and Washington. Fairness might demand that Biden should pardon president-elect Trump, ensuring that the former special counsel Jack Smith won’t be able to resurrect charges he recently withdrew. That would guarantee Trump is not prosecuted after the end of his second term. I’m confident that won’t happen.

While the Constitution grants absolute pardon power to the president, it doesn’t distinguish between those that are morally justifiable and those which are not. In theological circles, pardon is usually granted after repentance and statements of remorse. This acknowledges there is a law to which all people are expected to conform. To receive a pardon absent repentance makes a mockery of the law and suggests it can be unequally applied.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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