The Clintons and Bidens used to be close. But now there’s bad blood.
And Bill Clinton backstabbed Biden with one surprising attack.
During an interview on Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton reflected on his decision to pardon his brother, Roger Clinton, while weighing in on President Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.
Speaking at the *New York Times* DealBook Summit, Clinton shared his thoughts on the complexities of presidential pardons and the public scrutiny they attract.
“I think that the president did have reason to believe that the nature of the offenses involved were likely to produce far stronger adverse consequences for his son than they would for any normal person under the same circumstances,” Clinton stated, urging people to consider all the facts.
Clinton acknowledged comparisons to his own controversial pardon of his half-brother Roger, who served time in prison during the 1980s for cocaine charges.
According to *The Washington Post*, Roger had already completed his sentence by the time Clinton granted the pardon. However, less than a month after being pardoned, Roger was arrested for drunk driving.
Addressing these comparisons, Clinton explained, *”Mr. Clinton said that he did not believe the two situations were analogous, even as he stressed that presidential pardons are often complicated and politically fraught,”* according to the *New York Times*.
“My brother did 14 months in the federal prison for something he did when he was 20,” Clinton clarified.
“I supported it, and he testified, told the truth about what he’d done when he had a drug problem and helped to bring down a larger enterprise. And they sentenced him, and then he served 14 months, and then he got out. The real question was, would he ever be able to vote again? Would he ever be able to have normal citizenship responsibilities?”
Clinton also criticized the broader pardon system, saying, “I’ve been sort of upset that there’s been no discussion about the larger problem, which is does the pardon system we have work?”
He highlighted the often burdensome process of applying for a pardon and the uneven outcomes for deserving cases.
Echoing sentiments from Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Clinton noted that while he understood Biden’s decision, many others serving excessive sentences were equally deserving of pardons.
Responding to a *Politico* critique suggesting that Biden’s pardon of Hunter undermines trust in the justice system and bolsters accusations of elitism,
Clinton responded bluntly: “We had a lot better record than the Republicans did, didn’t we? And what good did it do us? I mean, nobody believes anybody anymore.”
He added, “I personally believe that the president is almost certainly right that his son received completely different treatment than he would have if he hadn’t been the president’s son in this kind of case.”
Clinton admitted that politics inevitably influence presidential pardon decisions, remarking, “I wish he hadn’t said he wasn’t going to do it. I think it does weaken his case.”
Biden’s pardon of Hunter has sparked backlash from both Republicans and Democrats. Defending his decision, Biden accused the Justice Department of treating his son unfairly. “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement.
“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.”
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