Hunter Biden Pardon Is Just Another Example Of Biden Admin’s Failure To Bring Promised Transparency To Government
- December 3, 2024
Katelynn Richardson, Daily Caller
President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son after repeatedly stating he would not is one of many broken promises from his administration.
On day one, Biden’s former press secretary Jen Psaki promised the administration would “bring transparency and truth back to the government.” Yet government watchdog complaints and congressional inquiries into executive agencies document how the past four years have been characterized by the opposite.
“The pardon is only the most recent of the egregious examples of the president’s pattern of not delivering on promises – especially ethical promises,” Protect the Public’s Trust director Michael Chamberlain told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Many of us remember the promises to be the most ethical administration in history. The reality of this administration and its top officials has been quite different.”
Psaki said in January 2021 that Biden is “committed to ensuring we have the most ethically vigorous administration in history,” yet a recent PPT report documents how agencies have faced serious ethics concerns on his watch. Psaki herself was subject to an ethics complaint when she continued fielding questions at the White House while negotiating for a job with MSNBC in 2022.
Deborah Haaland, secretary of the Interior, faced questions from congressional leaders over her involvement with and potential “misuse of her position” to benefit the anti-fossil fuel group Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA), an organization where her daughter works. After Haaland participated in a film produced by PAA, DOI ethics officials contacted the film’s sponsors to remove her title and photo from the promotional material, according to documents obtained by PPT.
“From Karine Jean-Pierre’s multiple Hatch Act violations to BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning’s apparent false statements to the Senate during her confirmation hearing to Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine making unequivocal statements about gender transition treatments for minors with virtually no scientific backing, it is clear that, as a Department of Energy spokesperson implied, ethics and keeping promises have taken the back seat,” Chamberlain told the DCNF.