Jon Stewart has explained why he’s “OK” with Joe Biden pardoning his son Hunter Biden over criminal convictions.
The outgoing US president, who has just under two months left in office before Donald Trump takes over, has granted his son clemency for felony gun and tax crimes – despite vowing he wouldn’t
In June, Hunter, 54, was convicted of three federal gun charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018. Three months later, he pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in September.
While Whoopi Goldberg has defended Biden over the move, arguing that presidents often make questionable pardons, many are particularly frustrated with the president due to his previous claims he wouldn’t.
Stewart addressed the subject on The Daily Show, stating on Monday (2 December): “Motherf***er, we were so close. But you know what? Good, OK, fine, it’s good, it’s right, it’s his right. He’s an 82-year-old man, doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life visiting his son in prison.”
But the one reason he is not entirely fussed is because he believes “Republicans get away with this s*** all the time”.
Stewart added: “I’m sure the pardon is a narrowly written, precisely drawn farewell note of compassion for a loved one.”
He then poked fun at Biden’s statement, in which he said the pardon covered offences his son “has committed or may have committed or taken part in”.
Here, he referenced the many worlds and timelines featured in DC and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), quipping: “I’m surprised Biden didn’t include the phrase ‘on Earth 1 or any of the Earths in the multiverse,’” he said.
Goldberg pointed out Trump’s longlist of pardons while discussing Biden’s decision on The View.
“They do it every time, they pardon somebody, so I’m not sure why the pearl-clutching is happening now,” Goldberg said.
But fellow panellist Alyssa Farah Griffin hit back at this idea, pointing out that she has an “immediate family member” who had been “in and out of jail” over addiction issues who was unable to get their record expunged in the hope of broadening their employment opportunities.
Griffin, a former member of Trump’s White House communications team, said Hunter’s pardoning “feeds the notion to a lot of this country that there’s simply a different set of rules for those in power”.
However, Goldberg suggested that Biden might have changed his mind after saying he wouldn’t pardon his son. She told her panellists: “I think Biden had no intentions of pardoning Hunter.
“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?”
