“That’s what presidents do every time. They do it every time, they pardon somebody, so I’m not sure why the pearl-clutching is happening now,” Goldberg said Monday after the news broke after the weekend.
The View co-hosts are weighing in following the news that President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, over felony gun and tax convictions.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg kicked off the show Monday by pointing out Donald Trump’s long list of past pardons — including Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, and more — but conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin had much to say as the lone member of the panel criticizing Biden’s decision.
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“That’s what presidents do every time. They do it every time, they pardon somebody, so I’m not sure why the pearl-clutching is happening now,” Goldberg said, before Griffin shared her personal ties to the matter, opening up about an “immediate family member in and out of jail” over addiction issues who is still attempting to get their record expunged in pursuit of fair employment opportunities.
BIDEN REVERSES COURSE ON PARDONING SON: After saying he had ruled out a pardon for his son, #TheView co-hosts weigh in on the president granting a full pardon for Hunter Biden who was convicted on tax evasion and federal gun charges. pic.twitter.com/dwhR0ZUQSL
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“Most Americans, if they face consequences for actions that they took, they’re going to have to face them, and nobody powerful and politically connected is going to come sweep in and save them,” Griffin observed. “This feeds the notion to a lot of this country that there’s simply a different set of rules for those in power.”
Griffin, who previously worked for Trump’s communications team at the White House, also criticized Biden and his associates for “lying” about his intentions to pardon his son, with both Biden and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly denying that he would pardon Hunter.
“I felt bad for Karine Jean-Pierre,” Griffin said of the handful of instances in which Jean-Pierre was forced to deny that Biden would pardon his only surviving son. “This is why people don’t trust Washington, this is why they don’t trust politicians. I know a lot of us like Joe Biden, but I find it disappointing and bad for our institutions.”
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Sunny Hostin, who previously worked as a prosecutor, and also related to having members of her family incarcerated and slapped with that “felon” label, said she felt that Biden’s son wouldn’t have been prosecuted if his last name were different, and if he didn’t have ties to his powerful father.
“So many of the people who committed this crime do not get prosecuted. Imagine the guilt Joe Biden has to live with thinking that his son, his only surviving son, is getting prosecuted because he is his son,” Ana Navarro added, before speaking directly to Biden’s son. “Hunter, your dad has given you a great, great gift. The gift of freedom.”
Griffin still pushed back, however, and said that while she understood why Biden, as a parent, would pardon his son, she couldn’t help but wonder why he would lie about it “for so long.”
Goldberg, continuing to monitor the spirted debate, urged her co-host not to frame it as lying, despite Griffin doubling down that the move would set a dangerous precedent.
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“It’s a precedent for all of us to open our eyes because we’ve elevated someone who is in a similar situation who didn’t have a drug problem who knew what he was doing,” Goldberg responded, referencing Trump’s election. “I think Biden had no intentions of pardoning Hunter,” she later continued. “I think the more stuff went down, he said, why am I busting my behind to stay straight and do this when no one else is doing it?”
And though Griffin continued to take issue with the matter, Goldberg ushered her to move on, telling her colleague, “I can’t believe this is what’s freaking people out.”
Biden announced his decision to pardon his son over the weekend, releasing a statement which read, in part, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
The View airs weekdays at 11:00 a.m. ET on ABC.
