Opinion / Columnist
Biden exposes politicisation of the US judiciary
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OUTGOING US PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN EXPOSES POLITICISATION OF THE US JUDICIARY AS HE PARDONS HIS CONVICTED SON HUNTER BIDEN WHOM HE CLAIMS WAS "SELECTIVELY AND UNFAIRLY PROSECUTED"
Things are falling apart for the US. The international noise that the US makes - especially in Africa and particularly in Zimbabwe - about 'free and fair democratic elections' and the 'sanctity of the rule of law' is up in smoke.
The narrative is in tatters.
Firstly, the US commitment to 'free and fair democratic elections' was exposed to be a charade after last month's poll were resoundingly won by a convicted criminal, the Once-President and now President-elect, Donald Trump, who was awaiting sentencing while facing a litany of criminal investigations, and charged in three criminal cases.
Now all the cases have vanished, as Trump awaits to be sworn into office on 20 January 2025. The message is that it is ok in the US for a convicted criminal - awaiting sentencing, facing multiple criminal investigations, and indicted in three criminal cases - to contest 'free and fair democratic elections'.
For a perspective, you can only imagine what the US government and its local running dogs would be saying and doing if the Trump scenario was unfolding in Zimbabwe. All hell would break loose.
Secondly, the outgoing President to be replaced by Trump, Joe Biden, who had all along vowed that he would not interfere with his son's court cases and that he would not pardon him were he to be convicted in of the cases, under the cover of fidelity to 'the rule of law'; has in fact pardoned his convicted son; alleging that his son is a victim of selective and politicised application of the rule of law by his on Justice Department and the US courts.
There will be a lot to be said about this, and to compare the development with 'the rule of law'; for example in South Africa, and how it has been selectively politicised against former President Jacob Zuma by fake constitutionalists and white racists whose politics is rooted in the legacy of apartheid.
Below is the full Biden statement, pardoning his son; followed by his 'full and unconditional Executive Grant of Clemency':
Statement from President Joe Biden
December 01, 2024
"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter's cases.
No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me – and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They'll be fair-minded. Here's the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."
###
THE PARDON:
Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America
To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:
Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto
ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN
A Full and Unconditional Pardon
For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.
Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.
Things are falling apart for the US. The international noise that the US makes - especially in Africa and particularly in Zimbabwe - about 'free and fair democratic elections' and the 'sanctity of the rule of law' is up in smoke.
The narrative is in tatters.
Firstly, the US commitment to 'free and fair democratic elections' was exposed to be a charade after last month's poll were resoundingly won by a convicted criminal, the Once-President and now President-elect, Donald Trump, who was awaiting sentencing while facing a litany of criminal investigations, and charged in three criminal cases.
Now all the cases have vanished, as Trump awaits to be sworn into office on 20 January 2025. The message is that it is ok in the US for a convicted criminal - awaiting sentencing, facing multiple criminal investigations, and indicted in three criminal cases - to contest 'free and fair democratic elections'.
For a perspective, you can only imagine what the US government and its local running dogs would be saying and doing if the Trump scenario was unfolding in Zimbabwe. All hell would break loose.
Secondly, the outgoing President to be replaced by Trump, Joe Biden, who had all along vowed that he would not interfere with his son's court cases and that he would not pardon him were he to be convicted in of the cases, under the cover of fidelity to 'the rule of law'; has in fact pardoned his convicted son; alleging that his son is a victim of selective and politicised application of the rule of law by his on Justice Department and the US courts.
There will be a lot to be said about this, and to compare the development with 'the rule of law'; for example in South Africa, and how it has been selectively politicised against former President Jacob Zuma by fake constitutionalists and white racists whose politics is rooted in the legacy of apartheid.
Below is the full Biden statement, pardoning his son; followed by his 'full and unconditional Executive Grant of Clemency':
Statement from President Joe Biden
December 01, 2024
"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter's cases.
No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me – and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They'll be fair-minded. Here's the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."
###
THE PARDON:
Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America
To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:
Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto
ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN
A Full and Unconditional Pardon
For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.
Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.
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