Mike Johnson Vows to Investigate Biden’s ‘Disgusting’ Pardons Moments After Saying We Shouldn’t ‘Look Backwards’ at Trump Pardons
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Congress will be “looking” into former President Joe Biden’s pardons for his family shortly after defending President Donald Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters.
At a Wednesday House GOP press conference, Johnson defended Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons after CNN’s Manu Raju asked whether standing by those pardons go against the typical “Back the Blue” rhetoric from Republicans.
Johnson made clear it was Trump’s decision and within his authority to pardon about 1,500 people convicted in the Capitol riot. The Republican leader said the party is “not looking backwards.”
“We believe in redemption. We believe in second chances,” he said. “If you could, you would argue that those people didn’t pay a heavy penalty after being incarcerated, and all of that is up to you. But the president’s made a decision. We move forward. There are better days ahead of us. That’s what we’re excited about. We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forwards.”
Just moments and one question later, Johnson was asked about Biden’s own pardons announced before he left office. Johnson called them “shocking.”
Among Biden’s last-minute pardons were family members James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” the then-president wrote, citing “attacks and threats” from Republicans as the reason for the pardons.
Johnson said on Wednesday that the pardons only reinforce allegations of the Bidens being a “crime family.”
He said:
It was shocking. I mean, it was shocking. What President Biden did on his way out, pardoning his family for a decade of any activity, any non-violent [activity]. It was breathtaking to us. I don’t think anything like that’s been anticipated. And by the way, go look at the tape four years ago. When it was just implied that President Trump might do something similar, they were apoplectic. Joe Biden himself, Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer. Roll the tape. They all said that would be crazy and unconscionable and now they’re cheering it along. To us, it is disgusting. To us, it probably proves the point, the suspicion, that, you know, they call it the Biden crime family — if they weren’t the ‘crime family,’ why would they need pardons? Look, there’s a lot of attention that’s going to be paid to this and that is appropriate and we will be looking at it as well.
Watch above via C-SPAN2.
