Monday, Dec. 2 | By Jonathan Easley

©  Kris Connor, Wire Image

DEMOCRATS ARE REELING after President Biden’s move to pardon his son Hunter Biden sent shockwaves across Washington and beyond.

Hunter Biden faced sentencing later this month after being found guilty on felony gun charges and after pleading guilty to tax evasion in a separate case. His lawyers have already moved to have the cases dismissed.

The president promised repeatedly over the past year that he would not grant clemency to his son, saying he would respect the judicial process however it played out. When Trump’s convictions came down from the hush money case, Biden posted on X that “no one is above the law.”

Biden not only backtracked on his promise but he went further, suggesting his son had been targeted for political purposes and granting immunity for any crime Hunter Biden may have committed dating back to 2014.

Special counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee whom Attorney General Merrick Garland granted special counsel status to probe Hunter Biden, disputed the president's claim "raw politics" had "infected" his son's case.

“There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” Weiss wrote in court filings. 

Weiss argued that even if Hunter Biden is spared punishment, the pardon does not absolve him of guilt.

"That does not mean the grand jury’s decision to charge him, based on a finding of probable cause, should be wiped away as if it never occurred...It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive. No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”

Democrats have spent years warning that President-elect Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department represent a direct threat to democracy. They’ve defended the justice system against accusations of politically motivated prosecutions.

Now, Democrats fear Biden has effectively neutered those arguments.

“President Biden’s decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) posted on X.

Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) disputed the president's characterization of Hunter Biden's prosecution being "infected" by politics.

“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers,” he said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D), a potential 2028 presidential contender, said the pardon will “tarnish” Biden’s reputation.

“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents.”

Biden arrived in Angola on Monday afternoon for his final foreign trip as president.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who stated repeatedly that there was no chance Biden would ever pardon his son, defended the action in front of angry reporters on Air Force One.

She said Biden "agonized" over the decision but ultimately feared Trump’s Justice Department would never stop pursuing his son.

“One of the reasons the president did the pardon is because it didn’t seem like his political opponents would let go of it, it didn’t seem like they would move on," Jean-Pierre said.

The spokesperson was asked pointedly whether she believes Biden’s Justice Department was targeting his son for political reasons, and how many other cases may have been warped by politics.

“He believes in the Department of Justice but he also believes that his son was singled out politically and so he made this decision,” she said, adding while she can’t speak to other potentially politically motivated cases, Biden “believes the warped politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice.”

Several Democrats have come to Biden’s defense.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said GOP lawmakers should “take a look in the mirror,” while accusing Trump’s Cabinet nominees of being corrupt.

“Way to go Joe," Crockett said. "Let me be the first one to congratulate the president for deciding to do this.”

Former Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder said the gun charges should never have been brought against Hunter Biden, who was found guilty of lying on a federal gun application about his drug use.

“No U.S. Attorney would have charged this case given the underlying facts,” Holder posted on X.

The news coverage of Biden’s pardon was aggressive and largely negative, after many in the media took Biden at his word when he promised not to pardon his son.

NBC reported that Biden has been telling his closest aides since June that a pardon was on the table, despite his emphatic public statements to the contrary. The White House disputes this.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig called the pardon a “historic act of political nepotism.”

Republicans spread video clips on social media of Democrats previously praising Biden for his steadfast refusal to pardon Hunter and accusing Trump of obstruction of justice for interfering in Justice Department cases.

For his part, Trump hinted that Biden’s actions might provoke him to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters, something he's been widely expected to act on after his inauguration.

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!" he posted on TruthSocial.

💡Perspectives:

• The Atlantic: Biden's unpardonable hypocrisy.

• Politico: We haven't seen a pardon as sweeping as Biden's in a generation.

• Talking Points Memo: Biden was right to pardon Hunter.

• The Hill: Biden's legacy of corruption.

Read more: 

• Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter rattles the political world.

• Biden’s pardon to reverberate on Capitol Hill.

• Hunter Biden joins history of controversial presidential pardons.

• Here are the times the White House said it wouldn’t pardon Hunter.

• Democrats rebuke Biden over pardon.

• Civil war has reignited in Syria, threatening the Middle East with further instability. Hundreds of Iranian-backed fighters have flooded into Syria to help the government battle the insurgents who have overtaken Aleppo. 
  

• Sunday was the biggest flight travel day on record, according to the Transportation Security Administration, with nearly 3.1 million Americans being screened through U.S. airports.

©  AP Photo/José Luis Villegas

President-elect Trump has nominated Kash Patel to lead the FBI, signaling his intention to replace current FBI Director Christopher Wray, who he nominated for a 10-year term in 2017.

Patel joins a small group of controversial Trump nominees, including Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who will be closely scrutinized by the GOP-let Senate during next year's confirmation hearings.

Patel, 44, served as a national security prosecutor at the Department of Justice under the Obama administration, before going to work for former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) as an adviser to the House Intelligence Committee.

He’s a staunch Trump ally and a brash spokesman who has pledged to tear down the FBI, prosecute his political enemies and rid the government of the “gangsters” he says are involved in a “deep state” plot against Trump.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the statements that he’ll likely be questioned on:

• Patel has said he’d shut down the FBI headquarters “on Day One” and "reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state.”
• He’s criticized the prosecutions of Jan. 6 rioters, saying the government is going after them as if they’re “terrorists.”
• He’s promised a full-scale purge of “deep state” actors and “government gangsters” that he says have been working to thwart Trump from within the Department of Justice.
• He’s promised to retaliate against Trump’s political enemies: “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly — we’ll figure that out.”

Some Republicans, including Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), say they’re on board with Patel’s nomination and expect him to be confirmed.

“I think Kash Patel is a very strong nominee to take on the partisan corruption in the FBI,” Cruz said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Others are striking a more cautious tone.

“Kash Patel must prove to Congress he will reform and restore public trust in FBI,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) posted on X.

Democrats and former law enforcement officials expressed alarm over the nomination.

“Kash Patel will be another test of the Senate’s power of advice and consent,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) posted on X. “Patel needs to prove to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he has the right qualifications and, despite his past statements, will put our nation’s public safety over a political agenda focused on retribution.”

Trump has mused about potentially using a recess appointments loophole to jam through his more controversial nominees, although he didn’t press the matter with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who withdrew his nomination for attorney general after bipartisan blowback.

Current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday wrote a letter to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who will be Senate majority leader in the next Congress, urging him to preserve the Senate’s “vital role” in the confirmation process.

Schumer said Democrats “stand ready and willing to work” with Republicans to provide “advice and consent” on the nominees.

“In particular, we commit to working in a bipartisan fashion to process each nominee by reviewing standard FBI background-investigation materials, scheduling hearings and markups in the committees of jurisdiction, and considering nominees on the Senate floor,” Schumer wrote.

“Regardless of party, the Senate has upheld this sacred duty for generations and we should not and must not waiver in our constitutional duty,” he added.

💡Perspectives:

• The American Thinker: Patel makes all the right people nervous.

• The Hill: Patel is just another Trump toady.

• The Hill: Will Gabbard protect America’s national security?

• The Los Angeles Times: Gabbard is the pick most likely to fail.

Read more: 

• Five things to know about Kash Patel.

• Hegseth’s mother complained about his treatment of women: NYT.

• Trump may rely on acting secretaries if nominees fall short.

• Bernie Sanders says Musk is right about defense spending waste.

• Trump Labor pick surprises unions, rattles business.

15 days until electors vote in their states.

18 days until the government funding deadline.

32 days until the new Congress begins and the House leadership elections.

35 days until Congress counts the electoral votes.

49 days until Inauguration Day.

©  Scott J. Applewhite and Alex Brandon, Associated Press

The Senate is back in session and the House will return on Tuesday.

Congress has until Dec. 20 to fund the government. House Republicans are expected to pass a stopgap measure that punts the issue into next year, when the GOP will have full control.

Still, Republicans will only have a minuscule House majority to pass a government funding bill and enact President-elect Trump’s agenda.

Republicans currently have a 220-214 majority in the House, with one race in California still needing to be called. They’ll start the next term down several members after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) resigned and Trump plucked two others to serve in his Cabinet. It could take months to fill those seats.

Tax reform is at the top of the list for House Republicans next year, but The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reports on how the small majority could make that a challenge:

“[The small majority] will make the heavy lift of tax reform even weightier for Republican leaders. A small but influential group of GOP lawmakers want to raise the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap and are vowing to block any bill without their demand, and deficit hawks are sure to voice their concerns about the price tag.”

In the Senate, Republicans will have a 53-47 majority, but newly elected GOP Leader John Thune (S.D.) says that won’t mean a rubber stamp for the Trump agenda in the upper chamber.

“Every president is going to come in and try to do as much as they can by executive action as possible,” Thune told the Brandon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce. “Congress, in some cases, is going to be the entity that sometimes will have to put the brakes on.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: How Latinos elected Trump.

• The Hill: Demographic change and identity politics aren’t enough for Democrats.

• The Atlantic: The end of Democratic delusions.

• Salon: Why Democrats seem so disconnected from what voters want.

Read more: 

• 5 key players in the fight over Trump's tax cuts.

• Social Security reform faces uncertain future in Senate.

• Democrats try to figure out where to go from here.

• Democrats look to governors to lead them to promised land.

• Democrats press Biden to limit Trump's ability to use military domestically.

Democrats are trying to decide who will lead them into the future as President Biden leaves the stage following a disastrous election cycle that saw a rightward shift across the country.

Former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) told MSNBC’s “The Weekend” that the party needs a complete overhaul.

“We need a rebrand…our brand is toxic in so many places.”

Some Democrats believe they need a populist revolution to bring them in step with the times.

The Hill’s Hanna Trudo takes a look at some of the rising stars on the left who could help shape a liberal populist movement, including:

• Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.).
• Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.)
• Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.)
• Rep. Ro Khanna (Calif.)
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear
• UAW President Shawn Fain

Meanwhile, Democrats are plotting what a second Trump resistance might look like.

In particular, Democrats say they’ll resist Trump’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants — even as they acknowledge that they badly bungled border security in the run up to the 2024 election.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) said over the weekend that law enforcement has “no obligation” to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement with deportation or identification processes.

“No state government, not Texas, not California, not any state in the nation has a constitutional authority to impose federal immigration law that is the responsibility of the federal government,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Padilla also said California is ready to use taxpayer money to help migrants in need of “legal assistance, legal advice, legal support” that stem from “threats” coming from the Trump administration.

“We know that there will continue to be a lot of fear in communities, and communities that deserve to know what their rights are,” he said.

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