During Friday’s White House press briefing on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre was pressed by reporters over the Hunter Biden situation, namely the charges Hunter Biden is facing after the latest indictment, and whether President Biden would pardon his son.
KJP, for her part, largely refused to give any information on the charges or the President’s reaction to them, though she did admit to the gathered crowd of reporters that Biden still does not plan to pardon Hunter over the tax and gun charges.
The back and forth began with a reporter asking, “I have two questions on the Hunter Biden case.” KJP said “Yeah,” and the reporter continued, asking, “Any reaction to the — to what we saw last night — new charges? And then I have a follow-up.”
KJP, in response, gave no real answers on the matter, saying, “Sure. Look, I mean, the President has said this before, and he will continue to say, which is that he loves his son and supports him as he continues to rebuild his life. I’m going to be really careful and not comment on this and refer you to Department of Justice or my colleagues at the White House Counsel.”
She then added that Biden is still “proud” of Hunter and how Hunter has lived his life after his troubles, saying, “But that’s what I’m going to — I’m not going to go beyond tell- — telling you all what the President has said over and over again. He’s proud of his son, and he is proud of him — proud of him building his life back up.”
The reporter pressed KJP for more details on the situation, specifically the toll it is having on Biden, asking, “I know you won’t to speak to the — to the charges directly. But can you speak at least to the emotional toll the charges are having on the President?”
KJP was again unhelpful, saying, “I’m just not going to comment beyond what I just shared.” The reporter wasn’t done, asking, “Are they speaking? Are they talking to each other?” And to that KJP responded by saying that she wouldn’t comment on Biden’s private conversations with his son, saying, “I — I mean, I’m not going to — and this is — we’ve been pretty consistent on this. I’m not going to comment on private conversation that the President has with his family members.”
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Then came the final question, which was if Biden plans on pardoning his son if Hunter is found guilty over the tax and gun charges for which he has been indicted. “One more on this. Only because you’ve said it before, I just want to re-up in — in light of these new charges. You’ve said before that the President would not pardon his son. Is that still the case?” the reporter asked. KJP finally gave a straight answer to that question, saying, “Nothing has changed. That is still the case.”
By The White House – P20210730ES-0261, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109883877