Christmas came early over the weekend for the Cackling Coven of ABC’s The View. They got their wish that President Biden pardon his son for his tax and gun crimes. On Monday’s show, fake Republican Ana Navarro boasted about lobbying Biden for this outcome and called it the greatest gift of all “the gift of freedom,” meanwhile moderator Whoopi Goldberg was lashing out and raging at those who called Biden out for being a liar.
Of course, since they were an ABC News property, they didn’t tell the whole truth that the pardon also covered financial crimes dating back to Biden’s time as vice president, which hadn’t been charged yet. “Yesterday Biden had a change of heart granting his son a full pardon on tax evasion and federal gun charges,” Goldberg said.
After decrying some of President-elect Trump’s pardons from his first term, Goldberg engaged in some major whataboutism to write off the Hunter pardon as just par for the course and dismiss the “pearl-clutching”:
You know, it is a president's prerogative. People can say, why are you doing that? That's what presidents do every time. They do it every time. They pardon somebody. So I'm not sure where the pearl-clutching is happening now except that that's what folks want to do, but it seems kind of foolish. You kind of knew he was going to do it given all that's happened, but maybe I'm just kooky.
Anti-Trump Republican Alyssa Farah Griffin pushed back and warned that the pardon “feeds the notion to a lot of this country that there's simply a different set of rules for folks in power.” “Most Americans, if they face consequences for actions that they took, they're going to have to face them, and nobody powerfully and politically connected is going to come sweep in and save them,” she argued.
Farah Griffin also called Biden out for “lying to the public” about not pardoning Hunter:
Secondly, I take issue with lying about it. I wanted to ask him here when he came on The View, but the thought was he said so many times he wasn't going to pardon him. That to me is lying to the public. I felt bad for Karine Jean-Pierre that she repeatedly had to say he wasn't going to pardon him. This is why people don't trust Washington, that’s why they don’t trust politicians.
Former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin huffed: “Please with the hypocritical pearl-clutching by this country!”
Laughably citing former Attorney General Eric Holder, who was held in contempt of Congress and who gifted guns to Mexican drug cartels, Hostin declared: “The only reason that Hunter Biden was gone after and charged, indicted, and found guilty was because his name wasn't Joe Smith; it was Hunter Biden! And that's the truth of it. You have got Eric Holder saying it. You've got former prosecutors like myself saying it.”
She also defended the lies Biden was telling about a possible pardon, saying, “I think one of the reasons he didn't admit it earlier was because he didn't know the felon-in-chief would become the next president.”
Navarro, a lobbyist who will cozy up to anyone in American politics who controlled the levers of power for her own benefit, bragged about lobbying Biden to pardon his son:
So, you know, I actually talked to Joe Biden about this when he was on the show. I told him, I hoped he pardoned Hunter. I went to speak at the Biden Institute in Delaware, like a month later, and we talked on the phone and I told him, I hoped he pardoned Hunter. I left him a handwritten note at his desk at the University of Delaware and told him, I hoped he pardoned Hunter.
She went on to bloviate about how Biden had given his son a “the gift of freedom” and she hoped he would use it to be a “good father” himself (despite the fact he had already abandoned his daughter):
Hunter, your dad has given you a great, great gift, the gift of freedom, and taking this weight off your shoulders. I hope now Hunter gives his dad a gift, the gift of being a good son, a good father, a good grandfather, a good human being, leading a productive life…And staying clean for the rest of his life. So, I hope that this goes both ways.
Farah Griffin once again called Biden out for lying about the pardon, which caused snowflake Goldberg to have a meltdown and shout her down:
FARAH GRIFFIN: I respect it as a parent. I understand why he would do it, but I wanted to understand why lie about it for so long?
GOLDBERG: I would stop – I’d stop calling it a lie!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Okay. Why repeatedly say you're not going to, and you do?
(…)
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think he thought he was going to win and I just wish he would have been honest with the public.
This triggered Goldberg. Becoming unglued, Goldberg argued that since Biden was still “the sitting president, and he can do whatever he wants to until his time is up.”
“I can't believe this is what's freaking people out!” Goldberg screeched. She had seemingly had enough of talking about Biden’s lies and brought the segment to a grinding halt: “But, you know, you know what? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. He did what he did! We're moving on! We’ll be right back.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
December 2, 2024
11:03:01 a.m. Eastern(…)
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yesterday Biden had a change of heart granting his son a full pardon on tax evasion and federal gun charges. He released a statement that, quote, says, “no reasonable person who looks at the facts can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out because he is my son. That is wrong, and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Now, I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
So the question is, will people understand? You know, listen. I get it. We got a convicted felon as president.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes. Yes.
GOLDBERG: It's hard for me to --
[Applause]
HOSTIN: Yes. Say it. Yes.
GOLDBERG: And I know that -- that you-know-who’s been asking, you know, are you going to pardon the January 6th folks? Actually, probably not, but [long pause] I kind of feel like -- I look at the list of folks that you-know-who pardoned during the first term. He granted 237 acts of clemency, 143 pardons, and 94 commutations, including Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Steve Bannon, George Papadopoulos, Albert Pirro, and Lil Wayne.
HOSTIN: Everybody.
GOLDBERG: Everybody.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I forgot about Lil Wayne.
GOLDBERG: You know, it is a president's prerogative. People can say, why are you doing that? That's what presidents do every time. They do it every time. They pardon somebody. So I'm not sure where the pearl-clutching is happening now except that that's what folks want to do, but it seems kind of foolish. You kind of knew he was going to do it given all that's happened, but maybe I'm just kooky.
(…)
11:05:18 a.m. Eastern
FARAH GRIFFIN: Most Americans, if they face consequences for actions that they took, they're going to have to face them, and nobody powerfully and politically connected is going to come sweep in and save them.
And I think A. this feeds the notion to a lot of this country that there's simply a different set of rules for folks in power. And when we sit here and say a lot, like, ‘well, Donald Trump did X, Y, and Z, and how did he get elected?’ Cause to a lot of this country, it just becomes noise. They think if you commit crimes and somebody powerful and connected in D.C., right, left, center, Biden, Trump, you're going to be able to get away with it if you have someone on your side; and that’s not how it is for everyday folks.
Secondly, I take issue with lying about it. I wanted to ask him here when he came on The View, but the thought was he said so many times he wasn't going to pardon him. That to me is lying to the public. I felt bad for Karine Jean-Pierre that she repeatedly had to say he wasn't going to pardon him. This is why people don't trust Washington, that’s why they don’t trust politicians.
And I know a lot of us like Joe Biden, but I find it disappointing and bad for our institutions.
(…)
11:07:15 a.m. Eastern
HOSTIN: Please with the hypocritical pearl-clutching by this country! Eric Holder, I think, said it really well, “No U.S. Attorney would have charged this case given the underlying facts that had been investigated for five years.” Less than -- get this -- .09 percent of people are prosecuted – are indicted, prosecuted, charged, and found guilty of lying on a gun form. The only reason that Hunter Biden was gone after and charged, indicted, and found guilty was because his name wasn't Joe Smith; it was Hunter Biden!
And that's the truth of it. You have got Eric Holder saying it. You've got former prosecutors like myself saying it. So –
FARAH GRIFFIN: Why didn't he admit it earlier?
GOLDBERG: Wait. Wait. Wait.
[Crosstalk]
HOSTIN: I think one of the reasons he didn't admit it earlier was because he didn't know the felon-in-chief would become the next president.
GOLDBERG: Let me let Ana speak.
ANA NAVARRO: So, you know, I actually talked to Joe Biden about this when he was on the show. I told him, I hoped he pardoned Hunter.
HOSTIN: You did. I remember.
NAVARRO: I went to speak at the Biden Institute in Delaware, like a month later, and we talked on the phone and I told him, I hoped he pardoned Hunter. I left him a handwritten note at his desk at the University of Delaware and told him, I hoped he pardoned Hunter. And the reason I thought it was important is because I wanted him to hear from people who support him and respect him, which I do, that some of us, I’d say most of us, think it's okay for him to pardon Hunter because of what you just said.
(…)
11:09:40 a.m. Eastern
NAVARRO: Hunter, your dad has given you a great, great gift, the gift of freedom, and taking this weight off your shoulders. I hope now Hunter gives his dad a gift, the gift of being a good son, a good father, a good grandfather, a good human being, leading a productive life --
FARAH GRIFFIN: Can I say something?
NAVARRO: Can I finish? And staying clean for the rest of his life. So, I hope that this goes both ways.
[Applause and crosstalk]
FARAH GRIFFIN: I respect it as a parent. I understand why he would do it, but I wanted to understand why lie about it for so long?
GOLDBERG: I would stop – I’d stop calling it a lie!
FARAH GRIFFIN: Okay. Why repeatedly say you're not going to, and you do?
And secondarily, for the part of this country, half that doesn't support Biden, doesn’t know him personally, doesn't get to have phone calls and they're just looking at a system that seems like it’s only benefits the people who are in power.
GOLDBERG [Interrupting]: Well, I’m going to say –
FARAH GRIFFIN: What precedent does that set?
GOLDBERG: Well, here’s that it sets. It sets a precedent for all of us to open our eyes because we've elected somebody who is in a similar situation, who didn't have a drug problem, who knew what he was doing, who clearly stood and said, ‘I can do this,’ and he did it.
So, I think for many, many reasons, this is very different than any other situation that we have ever dealt with because when we're talking about who gets a pardon and who doesn't get a pardon - This man, I think, Biden had no intentions of pardoning Hunter, and I think the more stuff that went down, I think he said, ‘well, why am I busting my behind to stay straight and do this when nobody is -- when no one else is doing it.’
FARAH GRIFFIN: I think he thought he was going to win and I just wish he would have been honest with the public.
(…)
11:12:04 a.m. Eastern
GOLDBERG: And look, he's the president, the sitting president, and he can do whatever he wants to until his time is up.
[Crosstalk]
FARAH GRIFFIN: Donald Trump is about to be president.
GOLDBERG: [Struggles to get words out]
FARAH GRIFFIN: The presidency should be bigger than his feelings and even his immediate family.
GOLDBERG: You know, it should be but it isn’t!
HOSTIN: He's a very small, small man. That will never happen with Donald Trump, ever.
GOLDBERG: I can't believe this is what's freaking people out! That this is the thing that says, oh, well see?
FARAH GRIFFIN: Precedence matters.
GOLDBERG: It does, but I'm noticing the man who would not normally be able to even vote for president is the president.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Because people don't trust our system.
GOLDBERG: But, you know, you know what? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. He did what he did! We're moving on! We'll be right back.
