Former Barack Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod roasted former President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his family members in the final moments of his presidency — telling the ex-commander-in-chief to “man up.”
“That was egregious,” Axelrod, a frequent Biden critic, groaned on an episode of his “Hacks on Tap” podcast released Tuesday. “That 10 minutes before the inauguration, they announced that he’s pardoned members of his family.
“I mean, man up! You know what I mean? Man up, and if you’re gonna do it, do it, but don’t do it literally as you have one foot out the door so you don’t have to explain it or be accountable for it,” the CNN contributor continued.
Biden pardoned family members just before leaving the White House on Monday. AFP via Getty Images
David Axelrod called Biden’s pardon “egregious.” Getty Images for The Atlantic
“Could you end a presidency as badly as he has? I mean, Trump did,” Axelrod went.
Biden on Monday made the unprecedented and controversial decision to issue blanket, pre-emptive pardons to his siblings and their spouses, which were announced about 15 minutes before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president.
Biden, 82, claimed that his family had been “subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics” and that they “have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
Joe Biden’s brother James was pardoned by the former president right before he left office. Getty Images
Biden’s other brother, Frank, was also pardoned. ZUMAPRESS.com
Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie, and her husband were given blanket pardons by the president. Boston Globe via Getty Images
The move came exactly 50 days after the 46th president announced a historic, sweeping pardon of his disgraced son Hunter following his conviction on gun and tax fraud charges.
Trump, 78, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Biden had received “very bad advice” to issue the pardons to his relatives.
Hunter Biden was pardoned by his father for tax and gun crimes last month, despite the president’s previous pledges not to do so. ZUMAPRESS.com
“You know what the funny thing — maybe the sad thing — is? He didn’t give himself a pardon,” Trump said.
“Joe Biden got very bad advice … Joe Biden has very bad advisers,” the president went on. “Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.”
