CHICAGO — President Joe Biden said he won't do it.
And lawmakers attending the 2024 Democratic National Convention willing to discuss the issue agree that Vice President Kamala Harris won't be pardoning Hunter Biden.
Still, speculation has abounded that former President Donald Trump might help Hunter Biden out as a combined gesture of unity, and owning the libs, should he win the 2024 election.
"What I’d like to see happen is I’d like to see President Trump come out with a statement saying, ‘Look, if Hunter Biden commits to a program of sobriety, inpatient or maybe outpatient, shows up, keeps his sobriety, I’ll pardon him," former Trump adviser David Urban suggested in June. "It would be a magnanimous offer on his part, shows humanity and, and really flip the tables on the Democrats."
The president's son is scheduled to be sentenced over three felony gun charge convictions the week after the election, on top of facing a separate trial relating to falsifying tax and business records next month.
The overwhelming majority of lawmakers, delegates, and supporters attending the DNC declined to discuss the first son's legal troubles, with a number even suggesting that broaching the subject was disrespectful to the president.
The brave few willing to engage on the issue scoffed at the idea that Harris would extend Hunter Biden a helping hand.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), asked if Harris should pardon the president's son or commute a sentence, flipped the question into a tongue-in-cheek attack on Trump.
"No, no, that's Trump politics. He's the one who pardons his family members and his political party," he told the Washington Examiner following his remarks Thursday morning at the Wisconsin Democratic delegation's breakfast. "Democrats don't do that."
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) rejected the idea that a Hunter Biden pardon is floating in the public discourse.
"I don't know whether there's talk of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden has acknowledged his problems. He's being held accountable by the Department of Justice, and he's a private citizen who operates independently from his father," he stated before turning the discussion toward recent Republican efforts to impeach Harris herself.
"What we are seeing is more improper and inappropriate," Goldman, who before being elected to Congress in 2022 served as counsel in the 2019 impeachment of Trump, said of the new articles of impeachment and investigations filed against Harris. "Politicized investigations targeting the new Democratic ticket and using the official resources and authority of Congress purely for electoral reasons, which is a violation of congressional Rules."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told the Washington Examiner he has "heard no talk whatsoever" about Harris pardoning Hunter Biden.
"I have no idea. I sincerely doubt it. I don't think Kamala Harris will be pardoning anyone," he said in an interview before criticizing Trump for vowing to pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who chaired the House Jan. 6 committee, has been critical of Republicans' impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden that started with his son's foreign business dealings.
"There's no question Hunter Biden is Joe Biden's son, but I don't think you impeach the daddy for something that the son did," Thompson told the Washington Examiner.
While the pardoning decision would be up to a future President Harris, Thompson said, "I wouldn't recommend to her that she do it," suggesting others should be a higher priority.
"I got a lot of people in my district I need to work on getting pardoned," Thompson said.
The president's son caused a brief stir earlier this week when he was photographed alongside his father backstage just before Joe Biden delivered his speech at the DNC on Monday night.
Hunter Biden later joined the rest of his family onstage to cheer on the president after his speech wrapped.
Following Hunter Biden's conviction, Joe Biden himself faced major scrutiny about the potential he would use his clemency powers to slip his son a get-out-of-jail-free card. But he put those rumors to bed in June, saying he was "satisfied" his son received a fair trial.
"I am not going to do anything," Joe Biden, flanked by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told reporters at the G7 summit in Italy. "I will abide by the jury’s decision."
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Trump himself has danced around the issue.
"I don't think it's appropriate for me to talk about it, to tell the truth. I felt that way with Hillary too," he told reporters at a lengthy press conference earlier this month.
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