Tuberville on Hunter Biden pardon: 'If it was my son, I’d pardon him, too'

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) seemingly agreed with President Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden over the weekend, but took issue with the president's prior vow to stay out of the matter.

“Well, I’ll put it this way: If it was my son, I’d pardon him, too,” Tuberville told reporters Monday on Capitol Hill.

"But here’s what I didn’t like: Don’t lie to us," he added. "Don’t tell us you’re not going to do it and then do it."

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Biden announced late Sunday that he signed a pardon for his son, arguing that the charges brought against him in two federal cases were political.

In June, the younger Biden was found guilty on three felony counts over his possession and purchase of a gun in 2018, breaking the law by concealing drug use. He also pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in September. The clemency clears Hunter Biden in both cases.

The decision attracted criticism from lawmakers, including Democrats in both chambers.

“President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter is, as the action of a loving father, understandable — but as the action of our nation’s Chief Executive, unwise,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) wrote Monday on the social platform X.

Some Democrats defended Biden’s decision despite both the commander in chief and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying in recent months that he had no plans to issue a pardon.

Tuberville pushed back on the claims, telling reporters, "That's not what a president should be like."

"You know, if you’re going to do it, which — he should at the end say ... when somebody asked him that, 'I’ll make that decision later'," he said.

“But don’t lie to the American people, because it’s just, it’s not upholding to the president [of the] United States. But it won’t be the last pardon,” he added. “I’m sure there’ll be a lot of the family members down the line who will get a pardon closer to the inauguration.”

The Alabama Republican is no stranger to controversy. He was heavily criticized after blocking several of Biden's military appointments and promotions last year over abortion legislation.

“This has been a tough time for our country," Tuberville continued Monday. "Having a family like this involved in all things they’ve been involved in, I’m not going to prosecute and put guilt on anybody right now."

“But I think in the future, the things I’ve seen, you’re going to see a lot of things come out that’s going to be very unbecoming to this administration," he added.

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