Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., called out President Biden on Wednesday for going back on his word and pardoning his son Hunter, calling the move “disappointing.”
Aguilar, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, said he understood Biden’s decision “as a father” but argued the pardon did not uphold the rule of law. Representative Ted Lieu, who joined Aguilar’s press conference on Wednesday, did not comment on the pardon.
“As a father, I get it, and I get it. But as someone who has spent a lot of time on this stage talking about the importance of respecting the rule of law, it is disappointing,” Aguilar said.
“The president gave his word and publicly said he wouldn’t pardon, but he did anyway, so that part is disappointing. “I believed him when he said it wasn’t,” he said.
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Rep. Pete Aguilar says he is “disappointed” that President Biden has pardoned Hunter Biden. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Aguilar joins a number of Democrats who have openly criticized Biden’s pardon. California Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he was also “disappointed” with Biden’s decision.
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“With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter, but I took the president at his word,” Newsom told Politico, adding that he “cannot support the decision.”
Biden had repeatedly vowed earlier this fall not to pardon his son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
In a statement announcing the pardon, Biden addressed what he described as a politically motivated investigation.
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“No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases could come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out solely because he is my son – and that is wrong,” the president wrote.
Hunter Biden this week received a sweeping pardon for about a decade of his life. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Biden had vowed several times that he would not intervene in his son’s case, first in June when his son was convicted of three firearms charges, and then in September after Hunter pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges.
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“I’m not going to do anything,” Biden said this summer. ‘I’ll stick to it the jury’s decision.”
