Karine Jean-Pierre Grows Frustrated with Repeated Hunter Biden Pardon Questions: ‘I’m Not Going To Relitigate This!’
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre grew frustrated with the tidal wave of questions on Friday on why President Joe Biden changed his tune on pardoning his son Hunter Biden.
At the White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre was hit with pardon questions right off the bat, first from The Associated Press’ Zeke Miller. The press secretary repeatedly said she did not have anything to add beyond the president’s statement, but that didn’t stop the questions from coming.
CNN White House correspondent MJ Lee eventually asked Jean-Pierre if she could give an answer that was “understandable” as the press secretary repeatedly insisted she had nothing left to add on the subject.
“Zeke asked this question, I just didn’t hear an answer. The next time the president says he will or won’t do something, why should the American people believe him?” Lee asked.
Hunter Biden was facing sentencing for gun and tax charges this month before his father stepped in, something both the president and his press secretary repeatedly said he would not do. Jean-Pierre argued Biden changed his mind because “circumstances” changed in light of President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory, and there were concerns about promises of “retribution.”
Trump himself previously said on multiple occasions that he was also open to pardoning Hunter Biden.
Check out the tense exchange between Jean-Pierre and Lee on Hunter Biden’s pardon below:
MJ LEE: Zeke asked this question, I just didn’t hear an answer. The next time the president says he will or won’t do something, why should the American people believe him?”
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: I answered that question. I don’t have anything else to add. I answered that question.
LEE: Can you explain it in a way that’s understandable?
JEAN-PIERRE: I won’t — I can’t speak to you understanding the question or not or my answer or not on this. I don’t have anything else to say. I’m not going to relitigate this. I did it on Monday for 30 minutes, I went back and forth, I laid it out, I said, please read the president’s really comprehensive statement on this and I even said, the last paragraph of that statement, he talks directly to the American people and that’s how I answered that question.
LEE: Can you acknowledge that it may have been a mistake by the president, you to say multiple times unequivocally that he will not pardon his son?
JEAN-PIERRE: The president laid out in that statement what changed, why his mind changed, how he wrestled with this decision. The president laid that out. I don’t have anything else to add.
LEE: He said, in part, I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has affected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’ Just to understand that sentence, I think it’s important, it’s assured that the president believes in the justice system, except in some cases?
JEAN-PIERRE: He believes in the justice system. He believes the facts are The facts are. Obviously, I talked about the gun charges. What legal experts have said, former prosecutors have all agreed virtually no one would be criminally prosecuted for underlying factors of Hunter’s case. I talk about the gun charges. I talked about the taxes, the tax cases. And there are other factors here. What Republicans have said as they weren’t going to let up. I talked about the upcoming sentencing and what Hunter and his family had been through. I talked about the appointees by the incoming president on law enforcement positions, and he wrestled with it. He did.
Watch above via CSPAN.
