Radio host Charlamagne Tha God challenged a caller on Tuesday who defended President Joe Biden’s decades-long political career and recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.
Biden pardoned Hunter on Sunday following months of pledging that he would not intervene after a Delaware jury convicted his son in June. A caller on “The Breakfast Club” justified the pardon by saying Biden realized after a long career of service that “his family was most important,” but Charlamagne argued the president’s policies have harmed many American families.
LISTEN:
“Man, I’m a father of six — two boys, four girls. Joe Biden had 40 years in office serving all of us … It took him that long to understand that his family was most important, so that’s what he had to take care of,” the caller said. “He’s 80 years old, man. He got to look out for his family, man. He ain’t ’bout to die and his son in prison. Come on, man. I’m gone.”
“Well, you’re wrong about him being — yes, he’s been in politics for that long, but he’s ruined a lot of families because of legislation like the ’86 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which introduced mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine, and the ’94 Crime Bill,” Charlamagne responded. “He’s the proud author of those bills, so he ruined a lot of families with that type of legislation.”
Biden co-sponsored the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which strengthened prison sentences for drug possession. He also authored the 1994 crime bill, which some experts say contributed to systemic racism.
Charlamagne also suggested Biden should “pardon everybody in federal prison for a nonviolent weed offense,” claiming it would “help [his] legacy, which is in shambles right now.”
Biden announced in Oct. 2022 that he was “pardoning all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession,” saying “no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana.” He later expanded the pardons 2023, according to the Justice Department.
The radio host told The New York Times in May that black voters may shift to supporting then-former President Donald Trump in part due to the criminal justice reform he passed as president. Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act in 2018, which sought to shorten sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.
“There’s people who actually saw family members and people they love actually get out of prison,” Charlamagne said at the time.
“You cannot bring up President Biden without talking about the ’86 mandatory minimum sentencing, the ’88 crack laws and the ’94 crime bill,” he added. “If people go back and watch my conversation with Joe Biden on ‘The Breakfast Club,’ I said to him, the ’94 crime bill led to mass incarceration and he goes, no, it was mandatory minimum sentencing, and I go, yeah, and you were behind that one too!”
Biden asserted that Hunter was “singled out” in the legal process due to their relationship in his statement announcing the pardon. Charlamagne refuted the claim on Monday, saying Hunter “was singled out because he broke the law” and “had an illegal gun and tax evasion charges.”
The radio host also claimed Monday that Democrats lack moral superiority over Republicans after Biden issued the pardon.
“I just want Democrats to stop acting like they are on this moral high ground politically when they have shown us they’re not. You know, whether it’s skipping the primary process when Biden had stepped down and things like Biden pardoning his son,” he said. “Stop acting like y’all are the pure party and Republicans aren’t.”
Moreover, Charlamagne questioned whether Biden ever genuinely thought Trump was “a threat to democracy” or “a fascist” due to the president’s rhetoric following the president-elect’s victory.
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