White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was immediately put on the defensive Friday when reporters dove into the contentious subject of the Hunter Biden pardon.
Friday marked the first White House press conference since President Joe Biden gave his son a blanket pardon that covered federal crimes he committed or may have committed between 2014 and 2024.
The Associated Press’ Zeke Miller challenged Jean-Pierre on her accountability:
KJP: [The president] thought about it, and he weighed — it was not an easy decision to come to. And he put out a comprehensive, comprehensive statement. And I would certainly, you know, offer that up to folks out there who are wondering, I would say, please read the president’s president’s response to this and full.MILLER: I’m sure my colleagues and people very specifically —KJP: It’s not only colleagues who watch this. There’s also the American people. So, to be to be fair.MILLER: And, exactly. And they ran it by you in July that this would not happen. And it did. Do you, I’m asking for yourself, not the president, yourself. Do you owe an apology to the American people?KJP: I just — Zeke! I just laid out the president’s thinking. The president laid it out himself in his own words. He did. He laid out how he wrestled with this decision. He said in his statement, as a president, as a father, he talked
about how difficult it was to make this decision. He thought about it this weekend. He did. He thought about that this weekend. He wrestled with it. And there are some, you know, factors, some real ones that he considered.
Earlier this week, the judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax evasion case in California rebuked President Biden for the pardon and failing to file the proper paperwork.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Scarsi wrote, “In short, a press release is not a pardon. The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, U.S. Const. art. II, § 2, cl. 1, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.”
Watch the clip above via the White House.