Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin ripped President Biden on Monday for pardoning his son Hunter Biden of multiple felony convictions and other criminal allegations, calling it a "consummate act of nepotism."
Toobin, who has been plagued by his infamous 2020 masturbation snafu that got him fired from The New Yorker and suspended from CNN, before later being let go by the network, made the arguments in a New York Times guest essay published Monday. He wrote that Biden’s move stood in contrast to his initial ambitions of being a leader of decency and free of corruption.
"Mr. Biden sought to define his presidency in counterpoint to the corruption and indecency of the first Trump years. With the pardon of his son, Mr. Biden added his name to the roll call of presidents who dishonored their office by misusing the pardon power," the analyst wrote.
Biden announced Sunday evening that he had pardoned his son earlier that day. In his statement, the president suggested that his son had been persecuted by the Department of Justice for political reasons, stating, "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 ."
Before getting into his criticism of the president’s decision, Toobin appeared to defend Biden’s point that his son was being persecuted.
"There is something to this argument," he said. "The president’s political adversaries have long been obsessed with trying to prove that Mr. Biden was somehow involved with his son’s misdeeds, many of which appear to have stemmed from his long-term addiction to drugs."
"Despite years of pursuit, including a spurious impeachment investigation, Mr. Biden’s critics never came close to proving that he had anything to do with his son’s criminal behavior, or that he benefited in any way from it," Toobin added. He also noted that Biden made the move "to forestall attempts by the new administration to prosecute his son."
Still, the legal commentator pointed out that Biden’s son was found guilty of 12 felonies and is now getting away with them because of who his father is. Speaking of other individuals punished by the DOJ, he stated, "But those other guilty defendants didn’t have the president of the United States to bail them out."
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"Mr. Biden’s love for his son, as well as his anger about the way he was treated, was understandable, but the president’s consummate act of nepotism has stained the record of the Biden presidency," Toobin stated.
His main objection to the pardon was that Biden hasn’t extended the same mercy to many others during his time in office, especially compared to his former boss.
"Mr. Biden’s merciful treatment of his son might be more defensible if he had extended the same kind of grace to others who received rough treatment in the legal system. But to date, he has issued only 26 pardons and 132 commutations. (In eight years, President Barack Obama issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations.)"
Towards the end of the piece, Toobin urged Biden to "redeem, or at least improve, his legacy on pardons," especially for those "who don’t have friends, or a father, in high places."
He concluded, "So far, though, he’s done none of that. For now, Mr. Biden’s sympathies extend only to his son."
