The liberal magazine Esquire recently had to issue a significant retraction regarding a false statement about former President George H.W. Bush. In an attempt to combat conservative criticism regarding President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon for First Son Hunter Biden, the publication called out a supposed instance in which former President Bush pardoned his own son. However, the claims were proven to be untrue, drawing substantial scrutiny.
In an article by Charles P. Pierce, the liberal commentator suggested that Joe Biden was not the first president to absolve his son of legal liability, claiming that George H.W. Bush had pardoned his son Neil Bush. “Nobody defines Poppy Bush’s presidency by his son’s struggles or the pardons he issued on his way out of the White House. The moral: Shut the f— up about Hunter Biden, please,” the sub-headline of the piece read.
“[The] lucky American businessman[‘s]… father exercised his unlimited constitutional power of clemency to pardon the Lucky American Businessman for all that S&L business way back when. The president’s name was George H.W. Bush. The Lucky American Businessman was his son, Neil,” Pierce argued. However, this claim is false as Neil Bush was never pardoned.
Earlier this week, the article was updated with a correction that acknowledged the regrettable mistake of crafting the argument about Biden around a false premise. “This column has been removed due to an error. The original article stated incorrectly that President George H. W. Bush gave a presidential pardon to his son, Neil Bush. Esquire regrets the mistake,” the note read.
In other news regarding the controversial pardon from President Biden, The American Tribune reported on a fact-check X’s “Community Notes” gave Biden on a previous statement of his about Trump. In a now-infamous tweet, President Biden said, “No one is above the law.” However, Community Notes has now posted a note under it that says, “On December 1, 2024, President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, for crimes covering nearly 11 years of ‘offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.’”
According to an announcement from President Biden about Hunter’s extensive pardon, he said, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
He continued, “Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”
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Arguing that the charges against his son were politically motivated, he said, “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”
Watch KJP say Biden wouldn’t pardon Hunter here:
Featured image credit: Featured image credit: By Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States – 210120-D-WD757-2097, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99135585