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Hunter Biden's Pardon Controversy 0:05 Good afternoon. I'm Victoria Marshall with the latest news from the Washington Watch news desk. President Joe Biden announced yesterday that he has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden faced sentencing0:17 for federal tax and gun convictions this month. This action is a reversal from a promise Biden made before and after dropping out of the 20 24 election, saying he would not0:29 pardon his son Hunter or commute his sentence. But now with less than 2 months left in office, Biden is saying his son was the target of weaponized government, and that justifies0:41 his pardon. For months, White House press secretary, Karim Jean Pierre, said Biden would not pardon his son.0:48 But from a presidential perspective, is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son?0:54 No. Well, is there a0:56 I I just said no. I just answered.0:58 The president would not, pardon or commuted the sentence for his son, Hunter. I just wanna make sure that that is not gonna change over the next 6 months. The president's saying1:07 he would not It's1:07 still it's still a no. It's still a no. It will1:09 always be a no.1:10 It's still a no. It will be a no. It it is a no, and I don't have anything else to add. Will he pardon his son? No.1:17 They his son, Hunter, is also, up for being sentenced, next month. Does the president, have any intention of pardoning him?1:26 We've been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.1:31 In a statement announcing the pardon, Biden wrote, today, I signed a pardon for my son, Hunter. A full and unconditional pardon for those offenses against the United States, which he has committed or may1:43 have committed or taken part in during the period from January first 20 14 through December first 20 24. Now conservative commentators are highlighting the specific dates of1:54 Biden's pardon, noting that back in 20 14, Joe Biden was vice president and allegedly selling his influence with his son, Hunter, in corrupt foreign business dealings.2:05 Why did he need an 11 year blanket pardon going back to 20 14 when Joe Biden was the vice president? We are sitting on the biggest cover up of who knows what2:17 crimes, and Joe Biden amazingly, knows exactly roughly when it started. He knows just about when it all started. He's leading office in complete and total2:29 disgrace. He is a liar, and there is no other way to spend this today.2:34 Jennings went on to say that Hunter's pardon is not about Trump, but about the character of Joe Biden. And in other domestic news, over the weekend, president-elect Donald Trump announced he has tapped KashTrump's New Administration and FBI Reforms 2:45 Patel as director of the FBI. In a statement posted to Truth Social, Trump wrote, Kash did an incredible job during my first term where he served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense,2:57 deputy director of national intelligence, and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council. Cash will work under our great attorney general, Pam Bondi, to bring back fidelity, bravery, and3:08 integrity to the FBI. Senator Ted Cruz applauded Trump's pick yesterday in an interview with CBS News.3:15 All of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all of the people pulling their hair out are exactly the people who are dismayed about having a real reformer come into the FBI and clean out the corrupted3:27 partisans who sadly have sadly have burrowed into senior career positions at the FBI. The FBI and the Department of Justice are 2 institutions incredibly important to the rule of law in the United States.3:39 I revere both. And 1 of the most tragic consequences of 4 years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is both DOJ and the FBI have been politicized and weaponized. And I3:51 think Kash Patel is a very strong nominee to take on the the partisan corruption in the FBI.3:58 Cruz also said that he believes Cash and all the other Trump cabinet nominees will be confirmed by the Senate. And in other domestic news, the Biden administration is scrambling to Trump proof the federal4:10 government. According to a new report by the Washington Times, Democrats are racing against the clock to create roadblocks for president-elect Trump and his new administration. The White House is doling out4:22 billions in infrastructure spending as well as millions of dollars in aid and weapons to Ukraine. Executive agencies are also dishing out new rules, and Democratic senators are trying to expedite confirming4:33 Biden appointed judges. And those are today's headlines. I'm Victoria Marshall. Up next is Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. We'll see you tomorrow with more news.4:50 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and5:02 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heiss.5:10 Well, good afternoon. And let me begin by saying that all of us here at Washington Watch and at the Family Research Council as a whole Hope that you and your family had a fantastic5:22 Thanksgiving. And now we welcome you back. I am Jody Heise, senior vice president here at the Family Research Council and president of FRC Action. Honored to be filling in today for Tony. He'll be back5:33 tomorrow, and we're thrilled to have you on board as well. We've got a lot coming your way. Let's begin with this.5:40 I am satisfied that I'm not gonna do anything. I I said I abide by the jury decision. I will do that, and I will not pardon him.5:50 That, of course, was president Biden back in June saying that he would not pardon his son, Hunter Biden. It was an announcement that, at that time, was praised by the legacy media.6:02 The contrast is profound to sit there and say, well, I'm not gonna intervene in the legal process, and I wouldn't pardon my son. 1 side, Democrats and Joe Biden protecting the justice system. And on the6:14 other, Republicans and Trump protecting Trump. A current president of the United States has so much respect for the law that he has said he would not pardon his son.6:24 He's not pardoning, his son, which he could do. These are federal charges. Right. He is not doing that.6:30 He is6:30 not doing it because he is living what it means to have a rule of law in this country.6:39 So where is the legacy media today? As of course yesterday, president Biden went ahead, and you guessed it, he pardoned his son. In fact, it was a sweeping6:51 pardon. So what does this tell us? Well, I'll be joined in just a few moments by Arizona congressman Andy Biggs to discuss this. And speaking of 17:02 eighties, the FBI is another agency that the incoming Trump administration is seeking to turn around, and they've tapped to lead the bureau. Kash7:14 Patel is a former deputy FBI director who has called the, called for the eradication of government tyranny within the FBI. There are serious problems at the7:26 FBI. The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change, and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it. He's probably the best at uncovering what's happened at the FBI, and I look forward to seeing him7:35 taking it apart. That was senator Bill Hagerty yesterday on NBC's Meet the Press, and I'll be joined a bit little bit later in the program by, former FBI agent Jonathan7:46 Gillum and get his take on the latest Trump pick and what needs to be done in order to clean up the FBI. And then we have some good news. Have you heard this? The7:58 Bible has seen a 22 percent jump in sales this year alone. Well, what's driving all of that? And how can we go from bible buying8:10 to bible reading? Well, we'll discuss that with FRC's national prayer director and chaplain, Jay Johnson, a little bit later in the program. And lastly, I'll be joined by CBN8:22 News, Chris Mitchell, from Jerusalem to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East, including a clash between rebel forces and the Syrian government.8:34 So as usual, we have a lot coming your way here in the next hour. If you miss any part of it, our website, of course, is tony perkins dot com where you can find not only this edition of Washington8:46 Watch, but past editions as well in addition to tons and tons of resources. So be sure to bookmark that page, tony perkins dot com. And, also, with tomorrow8:58 being Giving Tuesday, I wanna encourage you to join Family Research Council in shining the light of biblical truth here in Washington DC. And to make things a little bit better,9:10 thanks to a generous 50000 dollar challenge match, every dollar that you give will be doubled from now to Giving Tuesday. So help FRC continue serving9:22 as a prophetic voice in our nation. You can do so by simply texting the word light, l I g h t, light, to 6 7 7 4 2.9:34 We encourage you to give today and make an eternal impact. Alright. Let's go ahead and jump into the stories. Yesterday, president Biden did what he repeatedly9:46 said he would not do. He signed a pardon for his son, Hunter. And that full and unconditional pardon is for crimes9:58 that he has committed, Did you get that? Crimes that he has committed or that he may have committed or that he may have taken part in,10:10 all during a period from January first 20 14 through December of 20 24. We're talking, like, 11 years. Unbelievable. 1110:22 years for crimes that he has committed or may have committed. So what does this tell us about president Biden's respect for the justice system, which, by the way, the legacy10:33 media said was demonstrated, in his vow not to pardon his son how much he respected the rule of law in the justice system? Well, all that is turned on his10:45 head at this point. Well, joining me now to discuss this is congressman Andy Biggs. He serves on the house judiciary committee as well as the oversight and accountability committee. He serves the fifth congressional10:57 district of the great state of Arizona. Congressman Biggs, my friend, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you.11:04 Great to be with you, Jody. Thanks for having me.11:07 Well, listen. Let's begin. We got a lot to cover. President Biden said that he kept his word as it related specifically to not interfering with the Department of Justice decision making, but11:19 he didn't keep his word when it came came to pardoning his son. Your reaction to all of this?11:25 Well, first of all, I wasn't surprised. I may be 1 of the few people in America because I predicted 6 months ago when, he was replaced by Kamala. I said, you know, in the end, he's gonna he's gonna get a pardon11:37 for himself, his family, and do what's necessary, in his mind. And that is what happened here. But the biggest surprise, Jody, and you guys have cut touched on it quite a bit11:48 is that the scope of this, pardon is huge. It's it's it's perhaps the largest in American history. It's 11 years. It's any crime12:00 he was he committed, may have committed, may have taken part in. Anything you can imagine, he's he's gonna be pardoned from it. And, Jody, that is unprecedented. And,12:13 and that says a lot about what his father knows that Joe that that, Hunter Biden was engaged in. And, also, quite frankly, it provides some protection for Joe Biden as well.12:25 Very interesting. And, you know, I I take this, in a powerful kind of way coming from you. Not only because of the committees that you serve on, Andy, but the fact12:37 that you're a retired attorney. I mean, you know this stuff inside and out. And I want I'm sure you saw this. President Biden made a statement. He said no reasonable per no reasonable12:49 person who looks at the facts of Hunter's case can reach any other conclusion that Hunter was singled out because he's my son. I come on. Give me your reaction to13:01 that statement.13:02 Well, that was an outrageous statement. So let's let's consider about 3 different things. First of all, he had a jury trial. The jury convicted him. Second of all, he coulda had another trial, but he chose to13:14 plead guilty. And the third thing is the justice department under Joe Biden actually allowed the statute of limitations to run on the most serious charges13:26 related to, tax fraud and evasion, so that Hunter Biden would never even be prosecuted for those. So for him to say, oh, yeah. This is all based on13:38 politics. It's just that's flat out bogus. And anybody who's looked at this closely is gonna be able to tell you, yeah, he doesn't he he was being very, very disingenuous at best and flat out lying at13:49 worst.13:51 Yeah. And, I mean, the president continues to say that Hunter was treated differently. But as you just commented, he himself plead guilty to all of this kind of stuff. And, all the way, you have the justice department,14:02 Merrick Garland, claiming that they followed the facts and all this sort of stuff. So, who's telling the truth here? I you have even the14:14 justice department under this administration saying something different from what the president is saying.14:21 Well, you know, I I haven't been a big fan of Merrick Garland, but, they you know, David Wise, I haven't been a big fan of him either, but he actually prosecuted the cases. He went where where the facts took him.14:33 And I was working with, and you sat on the the oversight committee before you left congress. And so you're familiar with this, but I sat there. And the oversight committee, we looked at all14:45 kinds of documentation. And the fact that this went back to 20 14, Jody, really says a lot because Joe Biden was the vice president. Joe Biden14:57 and the family were getting money from the Ukrainians. Hunter Biden Joe Biden had been placed in charge of the state department book on Ukraine at the time. And so,15:09 somehow, Hunter Biden was, hired and given all this all this cash and money coming in, when he had no experience and no information on Ukraine. And then you have the15:21 same thing going on with China. So it's for me, I look at the tie the the timing of it or or the the period of time covered by this. And I say, they knew that there15:33 was some very serious allegations that we had been uncovering, and, there was a chance that you might actually get an attorney general who would actually do something. So when he says it was politicized, if it15:45 was politicized, it was to actually go easy on Hunter Biden in my opinion.15:51 Yeah. Well, the fact that he's acknowledging that the justice department is we've been weaponized. I mean, we've all seen that for quite a while. If I can, congressman Biggs, switch gears on you a little bit. I wish I16:03 wish we had a whole hour with you. But, congress is coming back. There are some major to do items for congress. Among them is the funding of the government before December twentieth, the16:15 deadline there. What what are you hoping is gonna happen? What do you hope to avoid? What what's your anticipation in all this?16:24 I would, what I think is gonna happen is a CR, a continuing resolution. It'll probably be a 2 or 3 months CR, which means that you keep all the spending at the same levels, keep all the programs alive that are there now,16:36 and that includes things like funding of planned parenthood, funding the World Health Organization, participation in the CDC, all of those things that I just I'm I'm totally against. I don't wanna see that, but I think16:46 that's what's gonna happen. I would be more content on December twentieth going in and actually, having a a budget, lapse or lapse in16:58 funding for a period about 10 or 15 days. Why? Because virtually every employee will have received all of their checks for December, and we're going into a new administration. It'd be nice17:10 to start with a clean slate at that point. But they I don't believe that my colleagues, have that in them to to do, and I think they're gonna go do a CR.17:20 And, I guess I I hear your point, and I I it's it's hard to argue. On the other hand, the the CR being short term would likewise kinda give the president, would17:32 it not give him the opportunity to kind of fresh start when he actually is inaugurated and takes office?17:39 Yeah. Except for it'll probably go for about 3 months, Jody. And that means that you gotta keep funding, basically, unlimited abortions for 3 months. The all the DEI and woke programs around the country17:52 participate in international institutions that hate the United States, all this bad stuff going on, and you're just gonna you're gonna be adding about 800000000000 dollars to your national debt over that same18:03 period.18:05 Wow. Well, thank you, congressman Andy Biggs. Dear friend, always great to have you on the show. Thanks for all you do. Hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving. Appreciate you coming to Washington to watch with18:15 us again.18:16 Absolutely. Best of Didi, and, hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving.18:20 Thank you so much. Alright, friends. After the break, I wanna discuss, 1 of the latest nominations by president-elect Trump and how the incoming Trump administration is gonna be able to clean up18:32 the FBI. We all know this has been an issue that's been brewing for a long, long time. And now with the nomination of Kash Patel, the left is18:44 up in arms. We're gonna get into this after the break, so stay tuned. Much more coming your way.18:52 The throne of Jesus Christ is unchallenged. His name was never on the ballot to begin with, and it's never gonna be on the ballot. He's the king of kings, and he's the lord of lords, and nothing's gonna change19:04 that. And so our mission stays the same, preach the gospel, make disciples, get ready for heaven. In the meantime, that we're to advance the concerns of the kingdom of god here on earth.19:15 America has entered a critical and vulnerable period from now until January the twentieth. Join Family Research Council for Operation Prayer Shield, a 10 week prayer initiative for our nation. From now until January19:26 twentieth, our country faces global challenges, a transition of leadership, and a lame duck session of congress. This season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance, discernment, and prayer. Text the word shield to19:37 6 7 7 4 2 to join us. You'll have access to prayer points, scripture, prayer calls. Text shield to 6 7 7 4 2. Unite with us and pray for our nation.19:51 Let's not be discouraged. Don't lose heart. Don't lose the faith. Stand now strong because the lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our20:03 courage matters. So let's stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.20:09 The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives20:22 don't defend it,20:23 who Who will? Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don't say the wrong thing, that that somehow we will20:35 come out of this unscathed. You're naive if you think that. Because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.20:47 Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we've relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we've relied too little on the power20:59 of God and God's ability to open doors that we can't open and do things that we can't even hope to begin to do.21:05 This may not be an easy task, but we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that his21:17 spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Jobs, after all, was never supposed to happen.21:27 Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful. And that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the21:39 kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.21:53 Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I'm Jody Hice. It's an honor to be sitting in today for Tony. Alright. As president-elect Donald Trump continues announcing the men and women that22:05 he's tapped to join his incoming administration, there's a lot of discussion about the changes that he'll be ushering in. And among the discussions is how a second Trump administration will22:17 reform an FBI that's rife with serious problems, including not the least of which is targeting a political opponents. And the pending nomination of Kash22:29 Patel as the FBI director provides a glimpse of what we might expect. So with me now to discuss the, president elect's pick and what needs to be done22:41 in order to clean up the FBI is a former FBI special agent and former Navy Seal, Jonathan Gilliam. Jonathan, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you.22:52 Good to be with you, my friend.22:55 Well, thank you. Listen. Just give me a what was your initial reaction to the Casper Tel nomination to be FBI director?23:03 Well, I had a couple reactions. And, as most people know, I'm blatantly honest when I give my opinion on things, because I try to reach these opinions from an educated standpoint in23:15 my training experience. I think Cash Patel is a very loyal individual, and I think that that's very important for Trump because there's not many loyal people in DC, not many people that23:27 he can trust. But the problem that I have with Cash Patel is that he's an attorney, and his resume speaks of the things he's done as an attorney. And that's been a problem with the FBI,23:40 since before Louis Freeh and after Louis Freeh. Louis Freeh is 1 of the only FBI agents that we've had, and the only 1, since him that was an FBI agent.23:52 And it's this is something that all the agencies in DC suffer from is that political appointees do not know the agencies that they're representing.24:04 And it's it would be easy to put Kash Patel in there and have him get rid of all the executives on the seventh floor of the j Edgar j Edgar Hoover building, and clean up24:16 that. But the problem is the left and all of these, what I call mafias, within the bureau and all these other agencies, those people are not in24:28 plain sight. And so if if we don't come up with an effective, solution to purging these people and not letting them repopulate in24:40 20 28, they will just come out of hiding and repopulate their ranks. Because once they the reason I call them mafias is once they get into into a rank, into an authority position, they24:51 stack everybody in a supervisor position under them with like minded people, and that's what all these agencies are like.24:59 Yeah. And that's a problem. And I saw it, when I was there in congress, you I'm in the it the deep state is for real. Do you think that there is a way to clean up the FBI,25:12 or or are you just not confident that Caspertel may be the 1 to be able to do it?25:19 So I do believe I do believe that there is a way to do it. But it it has to be whoever's gonna clean up these agencies cannot be the same person that is25:30 gonna run the agencies. And see, that's that is where I think the Trump administration and their picks, they're missing this. Right? You you pick an attorney that's experienced to25:42 run the DOJ. Right? And you know that that attorney understands federal prosecution. But in in all these other agencies, you have to have somebody who can25:54 run and reorganize and rebuild these agencies. And that in and of itself is a 4 year job for whoever gets appointed. But somebody else, a task force,26:06 just like, Homan is the czar of the borders czar, there needs to be a justice czar and somebody who or a re reorganization czar who takes a team of26:18 people that are from these agencies, looks broadly at all of them to get, like or similar issues, and then look at them each individually26:29 to see where the left and all these other mafis are entrenched, and then systematically expose those people, show them to the director, to the AG,26:41 and allow them to get rid of them. But Kash Patel or anybody else that comes in and runs the the the FBI is not gonna be able to do both of those things because we need a dedicated26:54 director of the FBI, and we need a dedicated team to purging the FBI. Those are 2 totally full different full time jobs.27:04 Very interesting take. And and I'll just say in all honesty, I don't know Caspertell. I I've I've never met him. I really don't know anything about him. So hearing your opinion and your insight on this is is very27:16 helpful to me. Let's just suppose, though, given the the task that he has now, been given, assuming he's he is confirmed, what are some of the areas based on your27:27 experience in the FBI that he needs to clean up first. What are some of the glaring problems that need to be addressed?27:37 First and foremost, the executive level, needs to be gone. The the executive, the executives in the FBI are corrupted. And even if they're good27:48 guys that somehow were pulled up to that level, they are still a part of a system that is broken. So that immediately needs to get fixed. The other thing that is28:00 immediate is recruiting has to change. Because if you fix the top but you don't plug the hole at the bottom, then they're gonna continuously pull activists in and careers in. That28:12 needs to change. And once those 2 things are done, they can start systematically looking for these mafias. And when I say mafias, I want you to understand28:24 exactly what I'm talking about. Leftists. Leftists build a chain underneath them of like minded people. SWAT team members who have, little experience in anything. Maybe28:36 they're an attorney, but they get into SWAT and they get up in rank. They will stack the board with SWAT team members who have no investigative experience in in in these particular areas.28:49 I I have to say it, the lesbian mafia. It is real. And once they get somebody in position, they will stack the ranks under them with people that are, that are friendly29:01 to their activism. And the next thing you know, you have a whole rank of nasty, not not just women, but other people who are sympathetic to that. And29:13 they will go after, as we've seen, after conservatives, Christians, and other people that they don't agree with politically. So systematically29:22 Right.29:22 They have to look for all these and purge those things and plug those holes.29:27 Jonathan Gilliam, former FBI special agent, thank you so much for your insight. We appreciate it. Thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch.29:35 God bless.29:36 Alright, friends. On the other side of the break, we're gonna be looking at what is driving a 22 percent increase in bible sales. Wow. It's gonna be great. Stay tuned. We'll be back in a moment.Show more In this video 0:05 Hunter Biden's Pardon Controversy2:40 Trump's New Administration and FBI Reforms29:42 Rising Bible Sales and Spiritual Renewal38:59 Middle East Tensions and Israel's Security
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