Former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, called the appointment of Merrick Garland as US attorney general the “greatest mistake” his father made in office while appearing on the “I’ve Had It” podcast on Sunday.
During the show, host Jennifer Welch attacked Garland and the Department of Justice under him for not charging President Trump and for investigating Hunter Biden. She asked Hunter Biden for his opinion on what she described as “capitulation by Democrats” to Republicans for pushing Garland in the first place.
“One of the things that pisses me off is the Merrick Garland DOJ and the not prosecuting of Trump. And that they prosecuted you,” Welch said in part when teeing up her question.
“My take is this, and removing myself from it as much as I can, my personal feelings, is the single greatest mistake of my father’s administration was the leadership of Merrick Garland,” Hunter Biden said.
He added, “The reason that we are in the situation that we’re in right now can almost… by the way, the buck has to stop with my dad. He was the president and he chose him. Now, once he chose him, he played by the, you know, a higher standard than the Marquess of Queensberry rules. He played by the Constitution and the tradition that the president will never, you know, particularly since Nixon, involve himself in any decision-making as relates to anything at the Department of Justice. So, I guarantee you there was a division between church and state there.”
Hunter Biden added more blame to Garland for failing to prosecute Trump for any role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, claiming that it was a “planned conspiracy” through the Trump administration to undermine the 2020 election.
“[I]f Merrick Garland had started a completely 100% legitimate investigation rather than thinking like let’s not fan the flames… did you not watch what I watched? Did you not see the people storming the Capitol of the United States of America, beating cops and running congressmen and senators literally out of the building? You didn’t see that? You didn’t see a president and know that it was a concerted and planned effort on their part beginning all the way back from the day before the election when they knew they were going,” Hunter Biden said.
Both Welch and Hunter Biden also described Garland as a “moderate” and suggested that he was only selected by President Biden to appeal to Republicans and as a favor after former President Barack Obama previously pushed him for Supreme Court justice.
“Obama picks this milquetoast candidate. Your dad is a decent man, felt bad about what happened to Merrick Garland. And he played integrity politics. Like, well, ‘I’m going to make him whole and make him attorney general.’ And then Merrick Garland gets there, and he’s like, ‘Well, we can’t upset these crusty White Republicans,’” Welch said.
“Massive mistake,” Hunter Biden said.
Hunter Biden was previously under investigation since 2018 under Trump’s first term. However, he was later pardoned by his father for any offense he “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024 during his final weeks in office.
