Democrat President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter, despite a very public vow not to, was met with condemnation from Arizona leaders in both parties. Two Arizona Republican congressmen and one congressman-elect were joined by a Democratic Representative in offering a stern rebuke of Biden’s blatant reversal and the clear preferential treatment given to his son.
In a statement released late on Sunday, Biden forwarded the claim that his son’s prosecution for violating federal gun laws and violations of the tax code were selective and that his son was “unfairly prosecuted” and “treated differently.”
He wrote:
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
Most controversially, the “Full and Unconditional Pardon” issued for the younger Biden is broad and sweeping. It covers “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” Notably, this period covers time when President Biden was still Vice President under the Obama administration, as well as Hunter’s appointment and tenure on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma according to Reuters. This would handily cover events and serious allegations of corruption probed by the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives in the past two years. It would also cover business dealings in China that have been heavily scrutinized as influence peddling and featured the cryptic mention in exposed emails of Hunter securing “10 held by H for the big guy,” as reported by the New York Post.
Appearing to refer to the implication of President Biden in the scandals, Republican Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09) wrote in a post to X, “Proxy Pardon,” seeming to suggest Biden is de facto pardoning himself or his brother James Biden.
Congressman-elect Abraham Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) wrote, “Joe Biden is leaving his presidency even more disgraced. A two-tiered justice system has no place in America. No more lies. No more special treatment. It’s time to restore law and order.”
Joe Biden is leaving his presidency even more disgraced. A two-tiered justice system has no place in America.
Democratic Congressman Greg Stanton (D-AZ-04) reposted the Associated Press coverage of the pardon and wrote, “I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong. This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers,” adding a bipartisan character to the Congressional blowback from the pardon of Hunter Biden.
I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong.
This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers. https://t.co/P31d4ILL1P
A prominent liberal think tank that helped suppress media coverage of Hunter Biden’s corrupt foreign business dealings recruited Arizonan government workers and activist leaders for its leadership program.
The Aspen Institute, a prominent liberal think tank, runs 65 programs nationwide to shape communities to its standards: such as the leadership program in Arizona. An independent reporter uncovered this week how one of the institute’s arms, Aspen Digital, coordinated a “tabletop exercise” with social media companies, media outlets, and academia to ensure effective cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop story released by the New York Post a month later. Twitter’s newest CEO, Elon Musk, uncovered this collusion with the release of internal Twitter communications and documents dubbed the “Twitter Files.”
30. Efforts continued to influence Twitter's Yoel Roth.
In Sept 2020, Roth participated in an Aspen Institute “tabletop exercise” on a potential "Hack-and-Dump" operation relating to Hunter Biden
The goal was to shape how the media covered it — and how social media carried it pic.twitter.com/lQSorONUSh
This revelation adds to another discovery from last November, when The Washington Free Beaconreported that Twitter’s former head of site security, Yoel Roth, served as an advisor for the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder. Key advisors on the commission have gone to great lengths to modify public narrative by censoring, filtering, or warping news coverage.
The Aspen Institute was one of numerous key organizations coordinating with social media and legacy media to control public speech and narratives at the government’s behest. Musk emphasized again on Tuesday that the government has been dictating free speech via social media companies.
“Every social media company is engaged in heavy censorship, with significant involvement of and, at times, explicit direction of the government,” said Musk.
Most people don’t appreciate the significance of the point Matt was making:
*Every* social media company is engaged in heavy censorship, with significant involvement of and, at times, explicit direction of the government.
Google frequently makes links disappear, for example.
The Aspen Institute isn’t the only entity to collude with government, social media companies, and other powerful entities to counter public speech. Governor-elect Katie Hobbs, during her term as secretary of state, worked with a middle man organization to censor online speech.
Last year, the Aspen Institute launched its first Arizona-based leadership program: the Greater Phoenix Workforce Leadership Academy, a 10-month stint developed between the institute and the Center for the Future of Arizona. Walmart was the key funder for this program. The academy is part of the “Economic Opportunities Program,” an equity-based program for low- and moderate-income individuals.
“We recognize that race, gender, and place intersect with and intensify the challenge of economic inequality and we address these dynamics by advancing an inclusive vision of economic justice,” reads the program page.
The leadership program’s inaugural 2021 class includes employees of Maricopa Community Colleges, University of Arizona, the City of Phoenix, Arizona Department of Transportation, Mesa Public Schools, Mesa Community College, Arizona Department of Economic Security/EEA, and the Arizona Commerce Authority.
Arizona government workers haven’t just been recruited by the Aspen Institute. In the wake of elections-related controversy over the summer, former Yavapai County Elections Director Lynn Constabile was hired by U.S. Digital Response (USDR), which was co-founded by a former Aspen Institute tech policy fellow along with former Big Tech leaders, and advised by three Obama administration chief technology officers.
USDR is a pro-bono nonprofit that assists governments and organizations with crisis response. Part of their work involves shaping public narratives and perception, such as tackling “misinformation” and “disinformation” by working closely with Big Tech-funded entities like the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL).
The full list of these 24 inaugural Greater Phoenix Workforce Leadership Academy fellows, now part of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, is replicated below:
Audrey Bell-Jenkins — Workforce Development Manager, UMOM New Day Centers;
Katie Belous — Research Analyst, Pipeline AZ
Colleen Bivona — Associate Director, Grants Development and Management, Maricopa Community Colleges
Miguel Fernandez — Professor, Chandler Gilbert Community College
Eileana Gudiño — Community Development Director, Valley of the Sun United Way
