After having spent Monday morning and evening predictably defending and spinning President Joe Biden’s pardon of his scandal-ridden son Hunter, ABC News waved goodbye to this story all together on its flagship (and superficial) morning show Good Morning America. In contrast, CBS Mornings and NBC’s Today kept up the pressure, acknowledging the hullabaloo.
All three networks had segments continuing the blatant smear campaign against Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, but CBS and NBC found time to pile on the President.
“Blowback from both parties as President Biden faces criticism for the pardon of his son Hunter,” CBS co-host Tony Dokoupil declared the show’s Eye Opener.
In the lead-in to congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane’s piece, Dokoupil added Biden’s “really hearing it, facing some serious criticism from both parties” with “some Democrats...saying it could undermine trust in the judicial system, not to mention Biden’s legacy.”
MacFarlane admitted “there is strong reaction” to the “political storm” Biden “has kicked up” on his way to Africa for the pardon of his son to keep him from prison.
“The President left behind the political earthquake he triggered in Washington with several fellow Democrats blasting the President’s choice...Some calling the pardon ‘unwise’ and ‘improper,’ adding he ‘put personal interest ahead of duty,’” he added in quoting reactions from Senate Democrats Michael Bennet (CO), Gary Peters (MI), and Pete Welch (VT) ahead of sound from moderate Republican Senators Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK).
NBC was even more blunt. Co-host Hoda Kotb teased a full story on the “growing fallout” stemming from “that controversial decision” in which Biden “went back on his word.”
Nonetheless, CBS and NBC continued their refusal to call President Biden or his administration liars for going back on their words.
Senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez did everything but call him a liar: “This morning, while President Biden is on a three-day trip to Africa, the firestorm over his full and unconditional pardon of his son is growing, even amongst some Democrats.”
For his clips, he used Democratic Congressmen Daniel Goldman (NY) and Greg Stanton (AZ) and noted that, “[f]or months, the President and his team had repeatedly insisted Hunter Biden would not be pardon.”
He also shared NBC’s reporting that Biden had been contemplating this since at least June and committed to saying one thing in public while doing another to keep his son out of prison and any possible charges relating to Burisma (click “expand”):
GUTIERREZ: But NBC News has learned he had discussed it with some of his closest aides at least since his son’s conviction in June. That’s according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. They also said it was decided at the time that the President would public say that he would not pardon his son, even though doing so remained on the table. The White House now denying that reporting, reiterating the decision was made this past weekend.
TUBERVILLE: If it was my son, I would pardon him, too. But here’s what I didn’t like. Don’t lie to us. Don’t tell us you are not going to do it and then do it.
GUTIERREZ: The President writing that he believes in the justice system, but also believes “raw politics has infected this process.” The blanket pardon covers not only Hunter Biden’s felony convictions on firearms charges and tax evasion, but also includes any offenses dating back to January 2014, months before he joined the board of a Ukrainian energy company while his father was Vice President.
Gutierrez would later conclude with the observation that “just days ago, Hunter Biden’s defense team released a lengthy document outlining why it believed that the process had been politicized and that language mirrored some of what President Biden laid out.”
How convenient!
To see the relevant transcripts from December 3, click here (for CBS) and here (for NBC).
