In a very entertaining Monday, December 2 broadcast of “CNN News Central,” CNN’s Brianna Keilar hammered Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) about the insistence he made in the past that President Joe Biden would not pardon his ne’er-do-well son Hunter Biden, something that happened on Sunday, December 1. That came on ABC News’s This Week in 2023.
As background, Biden said in his statement that he changed his mind and decided to pardon Hunter because he saw it as unfair, writing, “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.”
Continuing, he said, minimizing both the federal gun and tax charges brought against Hunter, “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.”
So, referencing that pardon and pressing Goldman on his past claims that Biden would never pardon Hunter, Keilar said, “You went out on a limb by backing up Biden when he said that there would not be a pardon in July of 2023 just after that plea deal fell through. This is what you said.” She then played the clip of him on ABC.
In that clip, when asked if it would be a mistake for Biden to pardon Hunter, Rep. Goldman said, “Yes. And I don’t think there’s any chance that President Biden is going to do that, unlike his predecessor, who pardoned all of his friends and anyone who had any access to him… And I think you see that in this case where he kept on, and Merrick Garland kept on a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney to investigate the president’s son. If there is not an indication of the independence of the Department of Justice beyond that, I don’t know what we could look for.”
Keilar, who had left Goldman on screen as the clip fo him played, then asked him how it felt to have pushed a message that turned out to be quite the opposite of true. She asked, “What does that feel like watching yourself back then reassuring people that Biden was not going to issue a pardon for his son?”
Goldman tried to defend himself by pointing to the failed plea agreement, saying, “Yeah, and I think that if that plea agreement and that plea deal had gone through, there would be no pardon.” Keilar immediately fact-checked him, saying, “It had already fallen through. You took him at his word. So, what does that feel like, knowing that he’s gone back on it?”
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Rep. Goldman then snapped back, “Well, as I said, I’m disappointed that after the plea fell through and it became clear about why it did, including Republican congressional intervention in this case, which made this case very unique and very different from any other case. I think that we all, perhaps I should have as well, recognized that this is not the normal prosecution. I said many times that if Hunter Biden were not Hunter Biden, he would never be charged with these crimes.”
Watch them here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video