OPINION:
Jill Biden, former first lady, said in a widely watched CBS News interview that her husband changed his mind about pardoning their son Hunter because they knew, just knew, that he was going to be unfairly targeted by Donald Trump’s administration and harassed and prosecuted for things that nobody else in America would go to jail for, no, nobody, nobody at all.
Because nobody goes to jail for felonies related to firearms purchases or for lying about drug use while filling out federal background check forms or for evading the paying of taxes or for filing false tax returns.
“Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in Los Angeles in September [2024] for falsifying records and failing to file returns dating to a period when he was hooked on crack, alcohol and easy cash,” The New York Times reported in December of 2024.
But nobody goes to jail for that.
“He faced up to 17 years in federal prison during a scheduled sentencing hearing in Los Angeles on Dec. 16, but would most likely have served no more than 36 months behind bars, according to sentencing experts,” The Times continued.
And by 36 months, it’s meant, of course, zero.
‘Cause nobody goes to jail for such matters.
“When Trump was elected, things changed,” Jill Biden said on CBS, explaining the change-in-heart moment when the Biden family knew, just knew, baby Hunter was about to be unfairly targeted for Justice Department prosecution. That was after a jury returned a verdict of guilty for Hunter in a case involving three felony gun charges, as well as after his admission of guilt for nine tax-related charges.
Guilt, schmilt.
Nobody goes to jail for those things.
“We knew [Trump] would target Hunter, and we just could not let our son go to jail on a charge that no one would go, I mean, no one has ever gone to jail for,” Jill Biden said, on CBS, The Hill reported.
A charge?
Try several.
Try several charges that have resulted in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Americans going to jail for, and in many instances, are still serving time. The man filed false tax returns so that he could skate on paying taxes, so he could continue to afford his life of leisure.
“[His] gun conviction came with a stiffer maximum sentence, 25 years, but he was expected to face a shorter sentence — of up to 16 months,” The Times wrote.
The takeaway is that Hunter Biden faced sentences that courts and attorneys and judges generally assess at ranging between a year-and-a-few-months to 25 years, or more — assessments that come by way of sentencing others.
Hunter was headed to jail.
By all judicial accounting, he should be in jail right now, serving out a multiyear sentence. Any other American would be. And the Biden family knew it — so they rushed the pardon.
They pushed through a preemptive pardon.
Jill Biden, meanwhile, couldn’t even admit to pushing her husband to pardon their son.
When asked by CBS host Rita Braver, “Did you urge the president to pardon Hunter?” — Jill dodged.
“Oh, gosh, I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point and I agreed with Joe,” she said.
As if Joe Biden made any decisions at all during his four years of mentally compromised administration. He did what he was told; he read what he was given; he ordered what he himself was coached, coaxed and perhaps even ordered to do.
And on Hunter, he went from this — “Biden pledged multiple times he wouldn’t pardon his son,” an NPR headline — to this: “Today, I signed a pardon for my son, Hunter,” a statement also from December 2024.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion that Hunter was singled out only because he is my son, and that is wrong,” Joe Biden said.
“There has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been 5½ years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me, and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” Joe Biden said.
Hunter was the victim.
Joe Biden was the victim.
And not only did Hunter receive a pardon for all acts “he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024,” as Joe Biden said. But also the Biden family received preemptive pardons for years’ worth of what they may have done, but probably didn’t do — but just in case they did.
Of course, nothing would be punishable by jail, anyway.
And if you don’t believe that, Jill Biden says you should buy her new book, out June 2, and read all about it.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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