President-elect Donald Trump hinted at mass pardons for defendants tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot – with his team vowing he would also overhaul the “Democrat-controlled” Department of Justice — a little more than an hour after President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Sunday night.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The 45th president, who won back the White House last month, floated pardons during his campaign for the more than 1,500 defendants either still facing trials or those already convicted for breaching the Capitol as Congress was voting to certify Biden’s 2020 election win over Trump.
Trump’s transition team earlier sent out a statement that blasted the Justice Department while vowing to fix the federal agency. It made no mention of Biden or his son.
“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.”
Hunter, 54, is now off the hook after he was scheduled to be sentenced on separate federal gun and tax evasion cases later this month.
The first son pleaded guilty in September to nine counts tied to bilking the government of $1.4 million in taxes and was convicted of three federal gun charges in June for possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine.
Biden, 82, argued on Sunday his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” — and issued a sweeping pardon that covered any offenses committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024.
He previously claimed he would not take action to help his son, telling reporters at a press conference during the G7 summit in June: “I said I’d abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
In his Sunday night statement, the lame-duck president did an about-face, saying: “There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley said he was “shocked” at the reversal.
“I’m shocked Pres Biden pardoned his son Hunter bc he said many many times he wouldn’t & I believed him,” the Iowa Republican posted on X. “Shame on me.”
House Republicans who led an impeachment inquiry into the president over his alleged involvement in his son’s foreign business dealings also decried the “blatant corruption.”
“Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities,” said Oversight Chairman James Comer in a statement. “Not only has he falsely claimed that he never met with his son’s foreign business associates and that his son did nothing wrong, but he also lied when he said he would not pardon Hunter Biden.”
“The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied about to the American people,” added Comer (R-Ky.), whose panel found evidence the commander in chief abused his power to perpetuate a family “influence-peddling racket” and obstructed their investigation. “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”
