“Lord, Lord, how the world is given to mendacity.”
Shakespeare didn’t have Joe Biden in thoughts when he wrote that line for “Henry IV, Half 1.”
However he might have have been he round at this time.
As a result of in relation to Biden and his pardoning his son Hunter, the road suits completely.
Biden has lied a lot about Hunter Biden (“He’s the neatest man I do know.”) that he wouldn’t know the reality if it walked up and bit him in his leg.
And one lie has led to a different in an online of lies or, to cite Sir Walter Scott: “Oh what a tangled net we weave, when first we apply to deceive.”
After vowing on ten or extra events that he would on no account pardon Hunter, Joe Biden did precisely that on Sunday after which flew off to Africa to keep away from answering questions.
Not that reporters or the general public would get any clear solutions from him or from Karine Jean-Pierre, his press secretary, within the first place. She has additionally repeatedly lied concerning the matter alongside along with her boss. “The reply isn’t any,” she stated as not too long ago as final month in response to a query about pardoning Hunter.
Maybe Biden lied to her too earlier than she started mendacity to the press.
How refreshingly sincere it could have been if Biden, on the best way out the door, had merely stated, “Hunter made errors. He has atoned for them. He has modified, has a household and is freed from medication. He’s my son. I like him. I misplaced one son and don’t need to lose one other. So, I’m pardoning him.”
Folks could not have preferred it, however they’d have understood it and even sympathized with the president.
As a substitute, he lied to the American individuals, pretending that Hunter Biden was focused just because he was Joe Biden’s son, and never the rogue, crack-addicted deadbeat who roamed the world shaking down nations for the Biden household’s achieve.
However Biden can’t assist himself as a result of he’s caught in an online of deception.
Biden even lied once more within the first paragraph of his pardon assertion when he stated he promised on day one to not “intrude” with the choice making of the Justice Division after which did simply that by issuing the pardon.
Biden justified his interference by charging that Hunter, who confronted severe jail time, was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” as a result of he was the president’s son.
Biden obtained it backwards. The actual fact of the matter is that Hunter, the bag man for the Biden household, escaped prosecution for years as a result of the was the president’s son.
And the Justice Division below lawyer basic Merrick Garland went all out to sluggish stroll the extra severe prices towards Hunter Biden till the statute of limitations on them expired.
Hunter was an affect peddler who used Joe Biden’s identify and workplace to wrest tens of millions of {dollars} from China, Ukraine and elsewhere that went into the Biden household coffers.
And all of the whereas Joe Biden falsely claimed he knew nothing about Hunter Biden’s enterprise dealings because the money rolled in.
Joe Biden even had the audacity to downplay the crimes Hunter was convicted of, each of that are felonies — illegally acquiring a gun, and failure to pay taxes on tens of millions of {dollars} in revenue over a number of years. Have been it not for the pardon, Hunter confronted severe jail time.
“It’s clear that Hunter was handled otherwise,” Joe Biden stated. Certainly, he was; he obtained a pardon.
However not solely did Joe Biden pardon Hunter for these crimes, the sweeping pardon he issued covers crimes Hunter Biden could or could not have dedicated over a 10-year interval starting on Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.
This in impact additionally shelters Joe Biden from any additional investigation into Hunter Biden’s enterprise wheeling and dealing that might implicate him and different members of the Biden household.
However to be much more protected, Joe Biden earlier than leaving workplace will in all probability grant himself a sweeping pardon.
Biden concluded his Hunter Biden assertion with this: “For my whole profession, I’ve adopted a easy precept: simply inform the American individuals the reality.”
That was the most important lie of all.
Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. E-mail him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
