Bernie Sanders agrees with Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, to a certain extent. On Sunday (Dec. 15), the Vermont senator sat with NBC News’ Kristen Welker for “Meet the Press,” where he discussed the 46th president’s decision and how it could possibly influence future officeholders going forward.
“When you have his opponents going after his family, as a father [and] as a parent, I think we can all understand Biden trying to protect his son,” Sanders said, referring to Republicans attacking Joe’s choice to have all charges, including tax evasion and federal gun offenses, dropped against Hunter.
However, the independent politician warned, “I think the precedent being set is kind of a dangerous order. It’s a very wide-open pardon, which could, under different circumstances, lead to problems in terms of future presidents.”
As REVOLT previously reported, Joe subsequently commuted the sentences of 1,500 inmates who were released to home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic and then pardoned another 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent offenses.
On whether the pardons will tarnish the current POTUS’ reputation, Sanders emphasized that his “legacy is a strong legacy.” He explained, “I think President Biden, on domestic policies, has perhaps been the most progressive president in American history since FDR.”
Sanders also touched on the highly publicized murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot in the back by suspected killer Luigi Mangione. “What you’ve seen over the past few months is... people’s anger at a health insurance industry [that] denies people the healthcare which they desperately need while they [healthcare companies] make billions and billions of dollars in profit,” the senator noted.
He also opened up about being “a little bit nervous” about FBI Director Christopher Wray stepping down before Biden leaves office: “When Trump talks about sending [people] to jail who were on that Jan. 6 committee, that sounds like a tinpot dictator, so I would hope that we have an FBI and a justice depart that protects the civil liberties of the American people.”