California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and incoming California Senator Rep. Adam Schiff (D) have criticized President Joe Biden for pardoning his son, Hunter, on Sunday, becoming the most prominent Democrats to voice concerns.
Newsom, thought to be positioning himself for a 2028 presidential run after he is termed out of office in 2026, told Politico that he was “disappointed” in the decision because he took Biden at his word that he would not do it.
“With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter,” he told Politico. “But I took the president at his word. So by definition, I’m disappointed and can’t support the decision.”
Schiff responded more slowly. He had supported legislation in 2018 to force the president to turn over documents to Congress in the event he pardoned a member of his family, saying such pardons could be an effort to obstruct justice.
“The Congress ought to know whether the President is using the pardon power to obstruct justice,” Schiff told CNN at the time.
Schiff told San Francisco Bay Area public radio station KQED that he, too, was “disappointed” by the pardon, saying that it set a precedent “that will undoubtedly be abused and probably will be abused in the very near future by the incoming president.”
Schiff cited Trump’s desire to pardon January 6 protesters. He did not mention President Biden’s possible effort to obstruct justice by excusing his son for his conduct in Ukraine — the very conduct Trump was probing when Schiff impeached Trump for asking the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.