CNN reporter Manu Raju slammed President Joe Biden for pardoning his son Hunter Biden despite pledging not to do repeatedly during his term in office.
Raju, the chief congressional correspondent for the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned news channel, blasted the move on Monday as a “stain on [Joe Biden’s] legacy.” His comments were reported by Mediaite.
“He was dishonest with the American public about whether he would give a pardon,” Raju told CNN host Dana Bash on Monday’s edition of “Inside Politics.”
“They said pretty flatly right before the election when he was interviewed, when he was still in the race a couple of months out, that he would not give a pardon,” he said, adding: “He said that repeatedly.”
Raju also noted that Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s White House press secretary, also “said it repeatedly to the American public.”
“They were not straight with the American public,” Raju said of Biden and his officials in the administration.
“And people remember that.”
Raju agreed with Bash, who noted that President-elect Donald Trump issued pardons to close friends, family members and associates during his first term in office, including Charles Kushner, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn among others.
A Democratic Party strategist hit back at Raju for his criticism of Biden, telling The Post: “Like last month’s election results, this is a revealing example of how out-of-touch D.C. elites are with mainstream Americans.”
The strategist said that Republican attacks on Hunter Biden “have barely registered with the American people” and that the public will “relate to a father loving his hurting son.”
Biden, 82, claimed he pardoned his son, who was convicted of federal gun charges and federal tax evasion charges earlier this year, after he watched him being “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
Hunter Biden, 54, pleaded guilty in September to nine counts including bilking Americans of $1.4 million in taxes. He was also found guilty of three federal gun charges in June after he was charged with possession of a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs.
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
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