President Joe Biden took questions from reporters at the White House on Friday and was eminently perplexed when one scribe asked if he’d pardon himself in his 10 remaining days in office.
Congressional Republicans have long accused Biden and his son Hunter Biden of reaping ill-gotten gains from an international influence-peddling scheme. Despite more than a year of investigations, the GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee never produced any evidence of wrongdoing on the president’s part.
The president did, however, pardon his son, who last year was convicted on gun and tax charges in two separate cases. That pardon covers all federal crimes the younger Biden committed or may have committed from 2014 to 2024.
During the presser, an unidentified reporter asked Biden to react to President-elect Donald Trump being sentenced to an unconditional discharge in his hush money case earlier in the day (which the reporter mistakenly called a “verdict.”). Biden didn’t answer that part, as he was taken aback by the reporter’s second question:
REPORTER: Mr. President, have you had any reaction to President Trump’s verdict [sic] today up in New York and whether or not that you believe that the punishment fit the crime? And also, Sir, on pardons, have you ruled out a pardon for yourself or any other additional members of the family?
BIDEN: For myself?
REPORTER: Yes, Sir.
BIDEN: Well, what would I pardon myself for?
REPORTER: That’s what I’m asking. [nervous laughter]
BIDEN: No, I have no contemplation of pardoning myself for anything. I didn’t do anything wrong.
The president then moved on to take a question from a different reporter.
