Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday that an influential Democrat told President Joe Biden how important it was to pardon Hunter.
During her first full televised White House press briefing since Biden granted the pardon, she shed some light on how the decision was made, stating that the president had been “in a process of grappling with the issue” prior to the announcement that came out last Sunday.
When challenged on the fact Biden used to say that he will not pardon his son, Jean-Pierre stated that South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn helped the president change his mind.
Earlier in the week on CNN, Clyburn said he told Biden that he had pushed for Hunter’s pardon during their discussion two weeks prior, but Biden was “reluctant.”
By playing up Clyburn’s part, Jean-Pierre appeared to recognize Clyburn’s star power after galvanizing Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign with an endorsement that delivered a South Carolina primary win for Biden.
“He said that the president silent when I urge the president to do so . This weekend [Biden] contemplated it, and considered. I’m not sure it was an easy decision to come to.”
For more follow-up about the pardon, reporters tried pressing Jean-Pierre, and she redirected to the discussion Clyburn had with Biden.
Clyburn said on CNN that he recommended this to Biden because he was being unfair to Hunter Biden and the legal system.
“If Hunter had gone through endurance like all had gone through endurance, I wouldn’t have this feeling,” Clyburn said. “But when you get prosecuted because you did not fill out a form to get a gun that you never used—that was even taken away and thrown away.
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