You know who agrees? 2020 Joe Biden!

We'll get to that in a moment. After the news broke this morning about Biden's last-minute scummy pardons, both Duane and I had plenty to say about them. What do people on the other side think about these attempts to avoid accountability for official malfeasance? Hillary Clinton's pollster Mark Penn declared them "the last straw," and also evidence of Biden Inc corruption:

The last straw

Last minute pardons for Biden’s political accomplices were the plan all along. The pardons for drug dealers and commutations for murderers were just cover for the main act of these pardons and his son — all done after elections have passed.

The only…

— Mark Penn (@Mark_Penn) January 20, 2025

The only administration to try to jail political opponents was not Trump’s but Biden’s, and it was the voters who rejected it with their votes. 

There were legitimate questions on whether Fauci lied about his funding of gain of function research, whether Miley broke the chain of command and had unauthorized communications with the Chinese and whether the Jan 6th committee coached witnesses. They may have all been right and truthful but there were questions, and they will all go unresolved now. 

But Biden was elected lying to the public about his son’s business (which was eventually uncovered), sought to win reelection hiding his infirmities, (which was also eventually uncovered), and genuinely abused his office in the closing days of his presidency as his low ratings sink even lower.

Indeed there were "legitimate questions." We could still get answers to those questions too, because Congress can subpoena these pardoned individuals and force them to testify without resort to the Fifth Amendment. What Biden short-circuited is accountability and consequences for corruption and malfeasance, and it's impossible to conclude that this is anything other than corrupt. 

Penn connects the dots very well here. This all starts and ends with Biden's decision to pardon his son for any and all crimes over an 11-year period (1/1/2014 - 12/1/2024). Biden didn't pardon Hunter Biden because he had been unjustly prosecuted; he pardoned Hunter because Hunter is the bagman for Biden Inc, which funneled millions of dollars from foreign sources through an archipelago of 20-plus LLCs to Biden family members. Biden had promised for at least months to not intervene in his son's case, but faced with actual prison time for the man who knew where all the money flowed, Biden made sure that Hunter had no incentive to talk.

In my earlier post, I called the pardons today a form of largely meaningless virtue-signaling. Penn suggests something more calculated in play, though. The pardons for Fauci, Milley, and the J6 Committee members are not just meant for virtue signaling but as distractions from the brute corruption of the Hunter pardon. That corruption leads directly to Joe himself, not to mention his brothers, who thus far have yet to receive the presidential Get Out of Jail Free card from The Big Guy. 

Congress can certainly investigate that, regardless of any pardons. And Hunter Biden can be compelled to testify, too, without recourse to the Fifth Amendment, since his pardon removes any danger from self-incrimination regarding any events over that 11-year period. 

So what does Joe Biden have to say for himself regarding last-minute stunt pardons? Nothing today, but four years ago, Biden was horrified by the prospect of pre-emptive pardons:

December, 2020. Jake Tapper asks President-elect Biden about the rumor that Trump may issue some preemptive pardons before leaving office.

Biden: You're not going to see me do that. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/YNyS0Qk9yY

— MAZE (@mazemoore) January 20, 2025

Donald Trump issued a total of 238 clemency actions during his term in office, ranking him 29th out of 45 among presidents at the time. Biden has issued thousands of pardons in the final days of his term, including the pre-emptive pardons that Biden declared corrosive to our global standing just four years ago. 

This is indeed the last straw. Or should be, in a sane world. 

Update: Good Lord! What exactly did Fauci do between 2014 and 2020?

Notably, the Biden pardon of Anthony Fauci begins on “January 1, 2014.” pic.twitter.com/4pthsTONwH

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 20, 2025

This is the Hunter Biden pardon period, and it suggests that Fauci has some legal exposure for activities committed before the pandemic. What exactly did Fauci need absolution from in 2014-2019?