Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) said he wished President Joe Biden had extended an olive branch to President-elect Donald Trump as controversy mounts over the Democrat’s move to grant Hunter Biden clemency.
After he was pressed on Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his criminally convicted son, who was facing a potential 17-year prison sentence, Manchin on Monday said that he understood where the president was coming from as “a father.”
However, the West Virginian senator added that he would have done one thing differently from the president: he would have added a pardon for Trump, too. The president-elect was involved in a slew of criminal cases and was found guilty by a 12-member jury in his criminal hush money case earlier this year.
“What I would have done differently, and my recommendations as a counselor would have been, why don’t you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all his charges?” Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju. ”Make it … a lot more balanced, if you will. I’m just saying, wipe them out.”
Manchin cemented his maverick status as a Democratic lawmaker in the upper chamber for decades before announcing that he was leaving his party to become an independent this year. Saying, at the time, that his decision came because “our national politics are broken, and neither party is willing to compromise to find common ground.” Manchin’s move came after often criticizing the president’s “radical social and environmental agenda” and the White House’s energy policies.
The West Virginian lawmaker declined to endorse the president after he announced a bid for a second term last year. When Joe Biden dropped out of the race, and Vice President Kamala Harris took up his mantle at the top of the Democratic ticket, Manchin also refused to back his No. 2. After Harris suffered a bruising defeat to Trump during the election earlier this month, Manchin said the Republican had won the race because the Democratic Party had abandoned working-class voters.
“They forgot them. The party over the years, they’ve moved from there, spending more time and effort helping those who are able-bodied but don’t or won’t work,” he said.
With Joe Biden turning over the keys to the Oval Office to Trump instead of his appointed successor, he now has under two months to cement his legacy.
When pressed on what the president’s move to pardon Hunter Biden did “for his legacy,” Manchin said he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know from that standpoint — it makes it difficult,” he said on Monday.
Both sides of the aisle have criticized Biden for going back on his promise not to pardon his son.
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Several of Manchin’s colleagues in the upper chamber voiced disappointment with the president’s move.
“President Biden’s decision to pardon his son was wrong,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) on Monday. “A president’s family and allies shouldn’t get special treatment. This was an improper use of power, it erodes trust in our government, and it emboldens others to bend justice to suit their interests.”
