A senator from the Republican side of the aisle said he can understand why President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter.
But Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) was not happy with Biden’s change of mind after months of stating no pardon would be forthcoming.
“Well, I’ll put it this way, if it was my son, I’d pardon him, too,” Tuberville said, per a report in The Hill.
“But here’s what I didn’t like. Don’t lie to us,” he continued. “Don’t tell us you’re not going to do it and then do it.”
The announcement of Hunter Biden’s pardon came Sunday night when the president claimed the federal charges against his son were politically motivated.
Hunter Biden was found guilty on three felony counts over purchase of a gun in 2018, when he lied on a form ablut his drug use.
He then pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in September.
The move by the lame duck president drew ire from Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate members alike.
“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.) posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter.
While some Democrats defended Biden’s move to pardon his son after months of denial, Tuberville his back that it was not a very presidential move.
Tuberville told 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’,” Tuberville 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 said. “I’m sure there’ll be a lot of the family members down the line who will get a pardon closer to the inauguration.”
