Anita Dunn, one of Joe Biden’s top longtime advisers, who left the White House after he dropped his reelection bid this summer, pushed back on the way in which the president went about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden. 

What You Need To Know

  • Anita Dunn, one of Joe Biden’s top longtime advisers, who left the White House after he dropped his reelection bid this summer, pushed back on the way in which the president went about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden
  • “I will say I absolutely agree with the president's decision here,” Dunn told The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. “I do not agree with the way it was done, I don't agree with the timing, and I don't agree, frankly, with the attack on our judicial system"
  • The outgoing president sent shockwaves through the political world earlier this month when he announced he was signing a pardon for his son

  • The announcement surprised many not only because it was a direct reversal from Biden and the White House’s consistent pledges that he would not pardon his son but also because he cited “raw politics” infecting the process

Participating in a panel for The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, held last week but posted online Wednesday, Dunn said she agreed with the decision to pardon the younger Biden but was critical of how the president carried it out. 

“I will say I absolutely agree with the president's decision here,” Dunn told The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. “I do not agree with the way it was done. I don't agree with the timing, and I don't agree, frankly, with the attack on our judicial system.”

The outgoing president sent shockwaves through the political world earlier this month when he announced he was signing a pardon for his son, who was facing federal felony gun and tax convictions. In a move deemed rare and sweeping by legal experts, the “Full and Unconditional” pardon also preemptively cleared the younger Biden from facing punishment for any offenses “against the United States which he has committed or may have committed” from January 2014 to 2024. 

The announcement surprised many not only because it was a direct reversal from Biden's and the White House’s consistent pledges that he would not pardon his son but also because he cited “raw politics” infecting the process and leading to “a miscarriage of justice,” as part of his rationale. Biden had made a point throughout his presidency to emphasize the independence of the courts and encouraged Americans to trust the system. 

Dunn argued that Biden had the “prerogative of changing his mind” and made the case that Hunter Biden had been held accountable for his actions and “turned his life around.” But she stressed that she disagreed with “the timing, the argument and sort of the rationale” of the president’s decision. 

“And had this pardon been done at the end of the term, in the context of compassion, the way many pardons will be done – I am sure – and many commutations will be done, I think it would have been a different story,” she said. 

On the timing, which she called “exceptionally poor,” Dunn noted that it came in the middle of President-elect Donald Trump rolling out his picks to staff his second administration and particularly one day after announcing his choice for FBI director, Kash Patel. 

The former Biden aide, who left the administration in August, said the only conversation she heard about pardoning Hunter during her time in the White House focused on what to tell the press when they asked. 

“And there was a one word response, right, which was ‘no,’” she said. 

She added that it appears the White House was not a part of this decision and it was made internally “with the family and with the defense lawyers.”