On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) stated that the recent pardons by President Donald Trump are different from the Hunter Biden pardon, which was “a father who was showing sympathy to his own son.”
Co-host John Berman asked, “[R]ather than ask you just to react to this new spate of pardons from the President, I guess what I’m going to ask is, how does it compare, in your mind, to the pardon of Hunter Biden?”
Markey responded, “I think what you had with Hunter Biden is a specific case that dealt with a father and his son. And I think everyone understands what Joe Biden was doing there. That’s very different from what Donald Trump is doing.”
Markey continued, “Donald Trump is looking at people who actually committed crimes against our nation and our security, beginning with those who he has pardoned who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. I was there. I know that this was a threat to our security. Police officers lost their lives. And he has pardoned those people. Now we have an extension of that, where his political allies can line up for pardons across the board. It’s sending a signal to people all across our country who are MAGA that, if they cross a line, if they break a law, Donald Trump will be there as their backstop, he’ll be their safety net. So, don’t worry, ultimately, Trump will be there to rescue them. And because he’s telling the Justice Department not to enforce the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, he’s also telling his own family, on a massive basis, but his allies, all of those businesspeople who he took on the trip to Saudi Arabia, that they can break the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, that they don’t have to worry, because, on his last day as president, everyone will receive a blanket pardon. So, this is just an invitation for criminality of — it’s the same message he’s sending to all of those crypto boys who showed up at his big party last week, don’t worry, cross the line, break laws, because I will be there to protect you.”
Markey concluded, “So, this is setting up a nation that is being told that if you support Trump and you have his back, that he’ll have your back, as opposed to Hunter Biden, the son of a father who was showing sympathy to his own son. That’s a completely different set of situation[s] than this nationwide network of criminality, which Donald Trump is empowering.”
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