In the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, in a blanket pardon for all federal crimes that he committed in the past decade, comments made by U.S. Senator-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) back in 2018 about then-President Donald Trump have come back up because the political winds are now different.
At the time, then-Rep. Schiff was commenting on then-President Trump’s musings about potentially pardoning members of his family, comments that sparked a flurry of condemnations from the staunchly anti-Trump Democrats like Schiff, Democrats who are suspiciously now silent about Biden’s pardon of his son.
In the 2018 incident, then-Rep. Schiff was speaking to then-CNN host Don Lemon, who has since been let go by CNN, about the idea that Trump could be guilty of obstruction of justice if he were to pardon one of his sons while under investigation, if he were to be involved in that investigation. Schiff hasn’t raised those concerns about Biden despite some of those crimes Hunter is accused of, such as influence peddling abroad and not registering properly as a foreign lobbyist, could potentially implicate President Biden.
Commenting on the matter at the time, Schiff first told Lemon that Congress could get involved in such a situation, saying, “In the event that the president pardons anyone in an investigation in which the president is a witness, the subject, or the target, those investigative files would all be turned over to the Congress.”
Continuing, Schiff indicated that he thinks an obstruction of justice charge could be brought against President Trump, or another president, in such a situation. He said, “The Congress ought to know whether the president is using the pardon power to obstruct justice. The American people have a right to know,”
Then, commenting on a bill that would restrict Trump’s ability to pardon his family members, Schiff said, “I think it is clearly constitutional. It doesn’t prevent him from granting a pardon, even a pardon he shouldn’t grant, but it does say that we will be able to at least find out whether the president is using this power to shield himself.”
Commenting on a post that dredged the clip back up after President Biden pardoned Hunter, one commenter on X asked if the California Democrat feels the same way despite the parties being reversed. That commenter said, “Hey @AdamSchiff I’m sure we will see you launching investigations into the Biden pardon? When can we expect that to happen?”
Another commenter, using Schiff’s words against him, said, “Nice one!! Biden has to turn over all documents to Congress to ensure he is not covering his own corruption. Lol!” Similarly, still another commenter said, “Adam Schiff’s opinion just changed a couple of hours ago, and will change back when Trump is in office fighting off the lawfare. Schiff is no different than a circus rat on a playground seesaw.”
