The White House said Thursday there is no possibility that President Biden will pardon his son, Hunter, as he tries to navigate thorny plea negotiations for tax and gun crimes.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre offered a blunt answer when reporters asked if a pardon for Hunter Biden was on the table.
“No,” she said, before moving on to other questions.
She ruled out a presidential pardon one day after an uncomfortable turn of events for Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in Delaware.
The younger Mr. Biden was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges, which would also resolve a gun charge, but the plea deal fell apart because a federal judge questioned if the fine print of the deal would shield the president’s son from future charges.
The stunning turnabout sent lawyers and prosecutors back to the drawing board. The judge also forced prosecutors to reveal that the president’s son is under investigation for failing to register as a foreign agent while he was cutting lucrative deals with Ukraine, China and other countries where he made a fortune.
SEE ALSO: Prosecutors track Hunter Biden’s lucrative dealings abroad for foreign agent violations
The president and his son also face an intensifying congressional investigation of alleged influence peddling and bribery in the family’s hugely profitable foreign business deals.
The House GOP is bringing a key witness to Capitol Hill in the coming days to offer potentially explosive testimony about the Bidens’ overseas deals.
Former Biden family business associate Devon Archer is expected to testify about up to two dozen instances in which Hunter Biden — while meeting with foreign partners — got his politically powerful dad on speakerphone to flout his clout.
The White House says the president wasn’t involved in his son’s business deals and that Republicans are misinterpreting Mr. Biden’s work to oust a Ukrainian prosecutor during his time as vice president — an episode that some GOP lawmakers have viewed as corrupt.
“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and this was a personal matter for him,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said Wednesday. “As we have said, the president, the first lady — they love their son and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”
She said the case was handled independently by the Department of Justice “under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump.”
SEE ALSO: Plea deal derails, Hunter Biden enters ‘not guilty’ pleas
Ms. Jean-Pierre referred any other questions to the Justice Department and Hunter Biden’s legal team.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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