Longtime Biden adviser rips 'rationale' of Hunter pardon: 'Attack on our judicial system'

Longtime Biden confidante and former senior adviser Anita Dunn criticized the president's handling of his son Hunter's pardon on Wednesday, saying that she disagreed with the "timing" and the "rationale" while describing it as an "attack on our judicial system."

"Had this pardon been done at the end of the term in the context of compassion the way many pardons will be done, I'm sure, and many commutations will be done, I think it would have been a different story," Dunn told a New York Times panel at the DealBook Summit 2024.

"So I will say, I absolutely agree with the president's decision here, I do not agree with the way it was done, I don't agree with the timing, and I don't agree frankly with the attack on our judicial system."

When asked by the moderator to elaborate on her "attack on our judicial system comment," Dunn said, "I think the president's statement has to be taken at its face value and clearly, like everyone else in the world, he has the prerogative of changing his mind, and that is indeed what he kind of said and he did there." 

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"I think that from a Democratic Party perspective, from a Democratic perspective, as we were in the midst of the president-elect rolling out his nominees and in particular in the middle of a Kash Patel weekend, kind of throwing this into the middle of it was exceptionally poor timing, and that the argument is one that I think many observers are concerned about a president who ran to restore the rule of law, who has upheld the rule of law, who has really defended the rule of law, kind of saying, 'well, maybe not right now,'" she said.

Dunn, who served as a political strategist and adviser to Biden on his 2020 campaign and a senior adviser in the Biden White House until leaving for the Harris campaign this summer, went on to reiterate that she agrees with the pardon, but disagreed with the "timing," the "argument" and the "rationale."

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Fox News Digital reached out to White House but did not immediately receive a response. 

Dunn added that she was never part of any conversation at the White House about pardoning Hunter besides what to tell the press, which she says was a one-word answer: "No."

Dunn's comments come as recent polling shows that Biden's decision to pardon Hunter after previously vowing on several occasions he would not give his son a pass has the approval of only 20% of Americans.

Dunn's comments drew immediate reaction on social media, including from former Jill Biden press secretary Michael LaRose, who posted on X, "Yikes."

President Biden attempted to make the case when he pardoned his son earlier this month that Hunter had been unfairly prosecuted. 

"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter," Biden wrote in a statement at the time. "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," Biden added. "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 president also referenced his son's battle with addiction and blamed "raw politics" for the unraveling of Hunter's plea deal.

"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," the 82-year-old father wrote. "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."