On November 21st<\/sup>, I sent an email to the White House.\u00a0\u00a0That was kind of a big deal for me.\u00a0\u00a0Years ago, I worked as a \u201ccorrespondence\u201d guy for a US Congressman.\u00a0\u00a0We got letters, snail-mail back then, all the time. There were dozens on a normal day, and hundreds when some particular issue was \u201chot\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0My job was to read each one, and make sure we (acting as the Congressman) responded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n We even had a special programmable typewriter (the mid-1970\u2019s, an IBM SElectric). It could type out a letter on a given issue, pausing so you could type in the \u201cpersonalization\u201d of name, address, and sentences that made it unique.\u00a0\u00a0So I would read all the letters, divide them into subject groups, and start replying to them.\u00a0\u00a0If it was an issue where there was no \u201cform\u201d already written, I\u2019d write a full response. But those new responses were \u201cvetted\u201d by the Congressman himself before they went out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some letters were personal requests. Those I forwarded to the \u201cconstituent service\u201d folks to see what they could do. Later, I would be part of that service. The problem-solving was the most fun, and fulfilling, task in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I summarized what came in that day, and make sure my boss, the Administrative Aide, knew what was important.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019d finish sorting and answering the mail, and get onto whatever else was on my plate (a lot of scheduling, some legislative stuff). It was important was not to miss a day.\u00a0\u00a0Like email today, miss a day and it just piles up, absorbing more time than possible to clear my desktop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I emailed the White House, knowing full well that it wasn\u2019t going to the \u201cear\u201d of the President.\u00a0But it was important for me to let the President know, even indirectly, that this issue was important to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My email was simple: I asked Joe Biden, the 46th<\/sup> President of the United States, to pardon his son Hunter. I then gave my reasons. And Sunday, Joe Biden did exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, it was my \u201cpermission\u201d that allowed Biden to issue the pardon \u2013 NOT!!\u00a0 I\u2019m sure there was a computer file full of emails asking for Hunter\u2019s pardon, and just as big a file full of those against.\u00a0\u00a0But, just like in Congress, a summary made it to the Presidential ear.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what did I tell President Biden? I told him the truth. If Hunter Biden was Hunter Brown, he would never have been indicted , much less face imprisonment. Hunter Biden didn\u2019t pay his taxes, got caught, then paid them all with interest and penalties. That happens in the US all the time, and seldom are criminal charges filed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, there\u2019s definitely the \u201cAl Capone\u201d exception.\u00a0\u00a0The Untouchables couldn\u2019t get Capone for gangster activities like murder and bootlegging, but were able to put him away for tax evasion.\u00a0\u00a0Capone couldn\u2019t explain the income. If he did then he\u2019d have to explain where it came from, and face an even greater prison sentence.\u00a0\u00a0Hunter was able to demonstrate how he earned the money, and while some of it \u201csmelled\u201d of influence peddling, it was all legal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n And \u201cwhat-about\u201d\u00a0the gun charge? Hunter signed a document saying he was legally allowed to have a gun when he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0That’s seldom charged in Federal criminal court, and is likely to be declared unconstitutional by the MAGA-Supreme Court majority shortly. All of the Biden charges reeked of “selective prosecution”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hunter Biden ain\u2019t no Al Capone. He\u2019s simply the son of the number one \u201chigh value target\u201d of the MAGA-Republican Party, Joe Biden. The entire investigation doesn\u2019t happen except Hunter is the son of Joe. So, in the end, Hunter Biden would be serving Federal time, not because of his actions, but because it was the way to get at Joe Biden. (Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, and many former US Attorneys make the same point).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It started under the Trump Administration with a Special Prosecutor, David Weiss, the former Republican US Attorney for the Biden\u2019s home state of Delaware.\u00a0\u00a0When Biden came to office, he chose not to interfere with the investigation of his son, allowing it to continue.\u00a0\u00a0Hunter and Weiss came to a plea-bargain which would have avoided jail time.\u00a0\u00a0But the MAGA-Republicans in Congress were able to raise such a ruckus, that the judge threw the bargain out.\u00a0\u00a0Hunter was then re-indicted on more counts, and pled guilty to avoid risk of many years in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Attorney General Merrick Garland bent over backwards to give Weiss all of the \u201crunway\u201d he needed to investigate Hunter.\u00a0\u00a0Even five years and another President into the process, there was no \u201cinterference\u201d or even \u201csupervision\u201d by the head of the Justice Department.\u00a0\u00a0So while Democrats might have been in charge, it was the Trump appointed prosecutor that still had Hunter Biden by the scruff of the neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was always going to be a backlash for Biden pardoning his son.\u00a0\u00a0The MAGA-Republicans are angry:\u00a0\u00a0they had Hunter, and the President stepped in and pulled him from their clenched jaws.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s rich, even laughable; listening to\u00a0\u00a0the whining of MAGA supporters of a convicted felon for President, who made it clear he would use the pardon power to \u201cclean the slate\u201d for his followers.\u00a0\u00a0And it certainly doesn\u2019t show that the Justice Department is \u201cweaponized\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What it does show that President Biden (and Attorney General Garland) allowed the system, tainted by Trump’s version of “weaponization” from the beginning, to go forward.\u00a0\u00a0But there was nowhere else for it to go now, except for Hunter to do time in Federal prison.\u00a0\u00a0And, of course, that time would be under the questionable oversight of a Trump Administration willing to use whatever tools necessary to get what it wants.\u00a0\u00a0The current President didn\u2019t want his son in jail, and he absolutely didn\u2019t want a really weaponized Trump Justice Department to have literal control of Hunter’s very life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Way to go Joe; you did exactly what needed to be done. I\u2019m proud of your service, in awe of your Presidency, and glad you can use the power of the pardon to right the wrong that was committed against you and your son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merry Christmas, Mr. President!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indirect Influence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Hunter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Not Al Capone <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
No Supervision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Backlash<\/h3>\n\n\n\n