Outgoing President Joe Biden’s move of pardoning his corrupt son, Hunter Biden, is angering some Democrats who are threatening to withhold funding for his future presidential library.
The president's decision to pardon his son, despite previously insisting he would not, has sparked mixed reactions—both from the public and within his own party. Some Democratic lawmakers are so angered by the move that they consider directing their "rage" at his library project. The library, planned for Biden's home state of Delaware, is being built by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal, senior adviser to First Lady Jill Biden.
The tradition started with Franklin D. Roosevelt and is funded by private donors, state and local governments, and university partners. The National Archives and Records Administration maintains it, and they are used to house presidents’ papers and documents after they leave office.
Sources told Axios that no one donor has yet mentioned contributing to Biden’s presidential library.
“If they had their sh*t together, they would have been doing the work on this over the summer — right after he announced he was stepping aside," a Democrat told the outlet. “Now, it's just too late. Hopefully, they are rightsizing their expectations and budget!”
The left-leaning outlet acknowledged that the president is "widely disliked" by the public and by members of the Democratic Party. His actions will likely negatively impact his legacy, pointing to his “sins of selfishness: running again, then pardoning Hunter after repeatedly saying he wouldn’t.”
Some in Biden's family have been shocked by the number of Democrats trashing his Hunter decision on the record, sources tell us. They expected some blowback — not a wicked backlash. But even Biden's best friends think it was nuts to pardon Hunter as a solo act on the same evening he left for a long-promised three-day trip to Africa.
Biden excused any backlash he might face on Sunday while announcing the pardon of Hunter Biden, claiming that his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” However, his corrupt son wasn’t unfairly targeted. He broke the law— plain and simple. He was caught making false statements while purchasing a firearm, providing inaccurate information that is required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and illegally possessing a firearm despite knowingly being addicted to drugs. He pleaded guilty— AKA admitted— that he failed to pay federal income taxes from over $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018 from money he earned through shady overseas business dealings.
In addition to shielding Hunter, Biden protected himself from accountability for the family's foreign business dealings, which have been criticized for their potential corruption.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the public to expect more pardons from Biden before he leaves office. Reports say the president is considering pardoning Anthony Fauci and Liz Cheney.