White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to apologize for repeatedly saying President Joe Biden would not pardon his son, Hunter Biden, before the president did just that this week.
During a briefing dominated by questions regarding the president’s unprecedented pardon of his son, Jean-Pierre remained adamant that she would not apologize for misleading the public about his intentions and that he did not need to apologize to her for changing his mind.
“I know what I said,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday. “I know what the president said. That is where we were at the time. That is where the president was at the time. … He wrestled with it and made this decision. … Circumstances have changed.”
At the same time, Jean-Pierre previewed that Biden would continue the tradition of taking more clemency action before the end of his administration and did not rule out the possibility of preemptive pardons for people, from Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) and former Rep. Liz Cheney to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, though she did not “get into hypotheticals.”
“Certainly, the president is looking at, you know, reviewing next steps, and there’ll be more to come,” she said.
