Letters to the Editor: A Democrat’s ‘bitter disappointment’ in the Hunter Biden pardon

To the editor: What a bitter disappointment President Biden has become. He claims his son was unfairly targeted for prosecution, so he pardoned him.

This is like the guy in a Lamborghini who whines that he was unfairly targeted for a speeding ticket because of his car. It doesn’t change the fact he was speeding.

Last June, a jury found Hunter Biden guilty of federal gun crimes; in September, he pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. In pardoning his son, President Biden turns out to be just as self-serving as all the other distasteful politicians we read about.

I liked to think that we Democrats hold ourselves to a high standard. I liked to think that our focus on the greater good is virtuous. I liked to think we value honesty and integrity. I can no longer think that.

Jerrold Coleman, Santa Clarita

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To the editor: If a bully were to threaten to shoot your son, would you not try to protect him with a bulletproof vest? This isn’t the best comparison, but I think the president has Trump-proofed his son from all the threats of revenge against “enemies” promised by the incoming administration.

In fact, I think that all of those “enemies” also should be pardoned by the president.

When President Biden promised not to pardon his son, there was no real threat lurking in the future; that changed after the election.

I don’t think that the president’s pardon in any way can be considered interference with the rule of law and the Department of Justice, as many Republicans are now proclaiming; after all, Hunter Biden stood trial and was convicted. Where was the interference?

Marie Slonski, Altadena

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To the editor: President Biden tells the world, “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.”

No, Mr. President: After Hunter Biden was sober, he filed federal returns here in California that contained bogus deductions (including payments to escorts).

Those are the type of deductions and in amounts for which the Internal Revenue Service will definitely bring criminal charges, no matter the offender’s last name. And the amounts of understated taxes would generally produce prison time considering the mandatory federal sentencing guidelines for tax offenses.

Kip Dellinger, Santa Monica

The writer is a certified public accountant who has written about tax practice and policy for trade publications.

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To the editor: “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

I had to read that three times to believe what was falling out of President-elect Donald Trump’s mouth regarding the Hunter Biden pardon.

If not an abuse and miscarriage of justice, what then was Trump’s pardon of Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father? And what then will it be when Trump starts wholesale pardons of the attackers of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?

Such hypocrisy has defined Trump since the day he descended the Trump Tower escalator in 2015.

Saul Isler, Los Angeles