NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd blasted President Biden for pardoning his son Hunter Biden this week, saying it has caused “real damage” to the country.
Todd argued this point during a Wednesday segment on “Meet the press NOW,“A daily show airing on the network’s streaming service, NBC News NOW, which argues that Biden’s move sets the precedent for a flood of future presidential pardons, and his words that the US justice system has unfairly targeted his son, will further undermine the country’s confidence in his son. institutions.
“You have the leading Democrat in America and the leading Republican in America both agreeing on one thing: the Justice Department has been politicized. That is absolutely harmful in the long term,” he told presenter Ali Vitali.
Todd appeared on the program to talk about his recent column: “The Trumpification of Joe Biden,‘, which provided his theory on the damage Biden’s pardon has done to the rule of law in America.
NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd denounced President Biden’s pardon of his son during Wednesday’s episode of “Meet The Press NOW.” (Screenshot/NBC News)
Biden announced on Sunday evening that he forgave his son of all crimes against the US that he “committed or may have committed” between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024.
In his statement, Biden accused the Justice Department of “unfairly” targeting his son. He wrote: “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Department of Justice’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I watched my son be selectively and unjustly prosecuted. “
During his “Meet The Press NOW” appearance, Todd began by lamenting that the president’s move gives future presidents — namely Trump — a “permission slip” to issue pardons.
“Now you’ve given him a permission slip,” the analyst said. “Unprecedented acts – every presidential act becomes a permission slip for the next president. And we’ve seen this throughout history, through our own history and how the presidency has worked: as soon as one thing happens, suddenly it becomes, “Well, us.” We’ve done it before, so we can do it again.’
He then pointed to two aspects of the pardon as “extremely troubling,” the first being that Biden “used the exact same rhetoric” as newly elected President Donald Trump in his regular attacks alleging the DOJ was being weaponized against him.
“I could have said to you, ‘Did Donald Trump say this, or did Joe Biden say this?’ And a lot of people would have said, ‘Oh, this is something Trump would say.’ It’s not something we were used to from Joe Biden saying about the rule of law and about the justice system.”
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Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen leave court after his guilty plea in his tax evasion trial in Los Angeles on September 5, 2024. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
The second troubling aspect, he said, was the fact that subsequent presidents will each receive their “security blanket pardon.”
“So now we’re in a situation where all parties come in and when they leave, everyone gets their security blanket. ‘Okay, how long do you want it? Do you want a ten-year period?'” he said, giving it ten year-long window of Biden’s pardon for Hunter closed.
“Because now we’ve set a 10-year period for anything you can earn — you know, this no-jail-jail card,” he said, marveling at the idea.
“Guess what? There’s now a precedent for this and that’s what’s so damaging about this decision,” Todd stated.
He briefly expressed sympathy that Biden had to make this difficult decision, but concluded: “This has done real damage to the country.”
Chuck Todd suggested President Biden is “emotionally incapable” of being president after pardoning his son Hunter. (Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg/William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images)
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Todd’s NBC comments about the pardon come after he spoke about it in a Substack.com interview with commentator Chris Cillizza. During the day the conversationTodd said he “100% knew” that Biden would pardon his son, noting that he “would not leave office without doing everything he could to protect his son.”
Todd added that Biden “probably should never have been president,” stating that his family drama made him “emotionally incapable.”
