Republicans have been publicly begging him to do this for ages…and now that he has done this they will come out in force to say how wrong it is.
One more October Surprise foiled. And sentencing is not until December, after the election.
Ya know, Joe said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter. I don’t believe (future president) Harris made the same promise. I wonder how long it’ll take for the right to ask her about it.
I don’t see Harris doing this if she should win and have any hope of reelection
Isn’t POTUS able to commute a sentence? Nothing stopping Joe from doing that if it is possible.
Yes, and if the sentence is harsh, I hope Joe does that.
I would understand if he did, but I hope he doesn’t.
Politico:
Biden pledged in June not to pardon or commute Hunter’s convictions
If Biden commutes Hunter’s sentence, that would be the most politically damaging commutation ever. Harris would have to condemn Joe for it. It would be super-ugly.
As for harshness, the problem is that the tax sentencing comes after the gun case. So when Hunter is sentenced for the tax case, the sentence is higher due to his already being a convicted felon.
He never said he wouldn’t commute the sentence. He said he wouldn’t pardon Hunter. He demurred on commutation. “He appeared to,” is not a commitment of any kind.
Harris will not “condemn” Biden if he does do it. Honestly, I have no idea where you get these ideas.
I can look for the transcript tomorrow:
This afternoon on CNN, one of the commentators (maybe two of a panel**) was talking about Joe Biden commuting Hunter’s sentence as a fait accomplit.
** I was listening on CNN’s Sirius XM broadcast.
That’s kind of you, but no need on my account. I remember watching Joe Biden when he was asked about it. He simply wouldn’t answer the question regarding commutation. I don’t blame him.
I agree with the CNN commentators. It will happen, and Biden won’t leave it for Harris to do.
It depends on the sentence. Remember, there was a fair and equitable plea deal happening until trump and the GOP interfered. If Hunter get the same sentence any contrite, and paid up tax violator gets- a year suspended- then fine. If it is a clear and obvious witch hunt, then Joe needs to commute the sentence.
So if Hunter get a fair sentence like anyone else not named Biden, then there should be no reason to commute.
Wouldn’t the sentencing guidelines be based on whether or not he was a felon when the crime occurred? Adding more years for something that happened well after the crime seems unfair to me.
My answer to your last sentence above is – by being a centrist. That does not make me more correct than anyone else on the merits but IMHO occasionally more attuned to how something will play with swing voters.
Here is what Democrats said about the Marc Rich pardon, which generated only a fraction of the public outrage that would be seen if Biden commuted his son’s sentence:
You might say – the Rich pardon was unjustified, while a Hunter commutation would only be fair. I’m saying that, politically, that would not matter one bit. If the longer sentence was on the gun case, that would be different. But the way it is playing out, the harsher sentence will be on taxes, and the President shielding his son from consequences of a tax felony conviction would hurt the Democrats for decades.
Because of that, Joe Biden will probably not do it.
I doubt you could find a significant amount of people that plan to vote for Harris that would change their vote if Biden pardons Hunter. Similarly, I doubt Joe pardoning Hunter would move the needle on Harris’ relection in 2028.
After he gets re-elected President Trump would like a favor, it involves holding his beer covfefe.
Curious whether you track the accuracy of your predictions, and what you’ve found. I’ve stopped making predictions because I’ve not found my crystal ball to be very accurate.
Hunter won’t be sentenced on the gun charge until Nov 12, after the election, and this tax charge will take even longer. So Biden doesn’t have to take any action before the election.
By 2028, no one will remember what happened, and if anyone tries to bring it up, the reaction will be, “That was Biden, Harris wasn’t involved.”
I respectfully disagree. Elections are so tight these days that every vote is needed to win. There are too many dough-brained people who would have their political views shaped by the massive amount of outrage the right wing propaganda machine would be pumping out about how corrupt the Democrats are. It doesn’t matter to them Trump hand$ out pardon$ to anyone who a$k$. If Biden interferes with Hunter’s sentence, some of the stupid people would be swayed to the Republican side. I don’t think any of the dough-brains would be impressed by Biden getting Hunter off the hook, so I don’t think the Democrats gain any votes. But there’s a good chance that they lose votes in the future from stupid people. Unfortunately, every vote is needed to win, even the votes from the stupid people. Helping Hunter helps Hunter. Not helping Hunter helps the Democrats win in the future.
I don’t think Biden will help Hunter out in any other way than any father could. Not because of strategics and future elections, but because that would be nepotism and dishonest and he has too much integrity for that.
Transcript’s up on CNN’s site now. OK, this all happened on Jake Tapper’s program yesterday afternoon (my emphases):
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So we didn’t think going out to California now to Hunter Biden, we thought that he was going to do this unusual maneuver where he was basically not going to – not admit guilt, but to have the judge impose the punishment. Instead, he’s pleading guilty. He offered a guilty plea.
Do you think that suggests that ultimately he thinks that his sentence is going to be either – that he’s either going to be pardoned or a sentence is going to be commuted by his dad?
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Katelyn Polantz and I reported several weeks ago that there had been some discussions about plea deal and those stalled. This is not a deal. He’s not getting anything here. All he’s doing is pleading guilty and even though the White House has denied it as recently as today, saying the president is not attend (sic) to pardon, or commute whatever happens to his son.
It is impossible to believe, Jake, that the president of the United States is going to allow his son to go to jail when they believe these are cases that would not have been brought against Hunter if his last name was not Biden. It is impossible to believe that they’re going allow him to go to jail when it is in his fathers power to prevent that either through a commutation or through a pardon.
They’re on the record saying it’s not going to happen. Based on what he decided today, he wasn’t even willing to wait for the judge to make a decision on that unusual Alford plea. [Hunter Biden] said ‘no, we’re going to plead guilty to everything’ strongly suggests he expects him clemency.
TAPPER: I mean, he’s not going to be president after January 20th, 2025. So, as you say, it’s impossible to imagine that given the fact that he’s – there’s no political ramifications for him. He’s on his way out the door.
What kind of sentencing do you think he might face, Hunter Biden?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So let me put this really starkly: if Hunter Biden does not receive a commutation or pardon, he is almost certainly going to federal prison. If we look at this tax case, the guidelines signs which are not mandatory, but they are influential and binding, look to call for a about a three-year sentence for Hunter Biden.
Now you can convince a judge as a defense lawyer or good defense lawyer to go below that, but I don’t see that going all the way down to probation. And let’s not forget, Hunter Biden has to be sentenced on the gun case in Delaware where he’s looking at a year or so again, under the guidelines.
So choice for the president is a very stark one. Either pardon Hunter Biden, or in all likelihood, watch him go to prison. That’s a tough decision.
I don’t know, as a father, I can’t imagine – put aside the legality, I can’t imagine watching your son go to prison.
TAPPER: Yeah, it’s impossible to imagine.
HONIG: Yeah.
REID: It’s not going to happen. And we even have jurors. We got them on the record in Wilmington saying, look, we think this case is kind of stupid, but they proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. It is absolutely possible (sic) to believe that Joe Biden is going to leave the White House and let his son go to federal prison, no matter what they say on the record. [I believe this last sentence is a transcription error – it should be “absolutely impossible” - b]
TAPPER: No. There’s no one who thinks that. Elie Honig, Paula Reid, thanks to you.