Whoopi Goldberg and Alyssa Farah Griffin got into a tense exchange over President Joe Biden ‘s controversial decision to pardon his son Hunter for his recent criminal convictions .
Alyssa, who previously worked as an aide in the Donald Trump administration but has frequently criticised the former president, expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation, stating that most Americans must “face consequences” for their crimes and do not have anyone “politically connected” to come “sweep in” and save them.
“This feeds the notion in many parts of this country that there are different rules for people in positions of power, and when we sit here and say, ‘Well, Donald Trump did X, Y, and Z, and how did he get elected?'” “To a lot of this country, it’s just noise,” she said. “If you commit crimes and somebody powerful and connected in D.C., right, left, centre, Biden, Trump, you’re going to be able to get away with it.”
Alyssa also expressed concerns about the 81-year-old’s earlier statement that he would not pardon his son, only to alter his mind just before departing the White House.
“He made it clear several times that he would not forgive him. “That, to me, is lying to the public,” she continued. “That is why they do not trust Washington or politicians, and while I know many of us admire Joe Biden, I find it sad and detrimental to our institutions… I respect it as a parent. I understood why he did it, but I wanted to know why he lied about it for so long.
However, Whoopi interjected and advised her co-host to “stop calling it a lie.”
“It’s a precedent for all of us to open our eyes because we’ve elected somebody who was in a similar situation who didn’t have a drug problem, who knew what he was doing,” said the actress who plays Sister Act. “Who clearly stood and said, ‘I can do this’ and he did it.”
“I believe Biden had no intention of pardoning Hunter, and the more that went down… I believe he said, “Well, why am I busting my behind to stay straight and do this when nobody is?” “When no one else is?” she concluded.
Alyssa responded, “I believe he thought he was going to win the election.” And I wish he had been honest with the public.”
As previously reported by OK!, Hunter was convicted of federal tax and firearms offences earlier this year. Two offences carried maximum terms of ten years in jail, while a third accusation carried a maximum sentence of five years.
President Biden previously stated that he would not interfere with the trial by offering a pardon, but on December 1, he reversed his decision.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” he said at the time. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong.”