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said for months no pardon was coming. is there really a credibility issue, now that you have given this announcement? >> first of all, one of the things the president always believes this to be truthful to the american people. that is something he always truly believes. if you see the end of his -- i assume that you read his statement. you look at the end of that statement, he actually said in the last paragraph, in respect to how the american people will actually see this and his decision-making, and i would encourage everyone to read it full, the president's statement. he lays out his thought process. he lays out how he came to this decision. he came to this decision this weekend. let's be very clear about that. he said it himself, he came to this decision this weekend. he said he wrestled with this.

because he believes in the justice system. but he also believes the war on politics affected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice. i'm repeating what the president said. he said no reasonable person, if you are looking at this in a good-faith way, if you're looking at the facts of hunter's cases, you can't reach any other conclusion. and what we have seen -- and not just us, other people have commented on the president's actions in the last 24 hours -- i've lost track of time -- they can see that hunter was singled out, because his last name was biden, because he was the president's son, that's what we saw. so the president believed enough is enough. the president took action and he also believes that they tried to break his son in

order to break him. that's what we saw. i'm just repeating what the president said. i think the statement in full really lays out his thought process. he came to this decision this weekend and he wrestled with it. it was not an easy decision to make. >> just real quick on that, the two of them were together this weekend, did the president and hunter discuss this possibility or talk about this happening? >> he made the decision this weekend. he made it himself. i don't have anything else to discuss beyond that. i have been pretty consistent in not talking about private conversationss he's had with his family -- not talking about private conversations he's had with his family. he made this decision himself.

once he made this decision, he shared it with his senior staff. >> the reasons he laid out in the statements, they are assumed to be correct. those are incorrect. those are not changes that were made this weekend. what changed his mind this weekend? >> again, it is in his statement. he wrestled with it. he thought about it. he believed and what he saw was his son was singled out, and so he made his decision. once he made the decision, which was this weekend, he decided to move forward with it and not to wait. i think he truly believed enough is enough. we have seen the last five years or so the president's political opponents say it themselves --

they were going after hunter biden. so he made this decision. >> when the president says the justice system is infected with politics, how deep is the rot? how much blame does the president take on himself for this act that his own justice department, his appointees have allowed it to get this bed? >> -- this bad? >> i do want to share a couple things, attorney general holder said no u.s. attorney would've charged this case given the underlying facts, after a five-year investigation. defects discovered only made that clear. had hid name -- had his name ben joe smith -- been joe smith. barbara mcquade said the pardon of hunter biden is the best

interest of justice based on the fact most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him. she said i was responsible approving charges and prosecution requests. i don't believe he would have been charged if his last name was not biden. i'm going to pull out the president's statement. this plays into what i just read which is there was a deal on the table. a deal agreed to by the department of justice unraveled in the courtroom where the number of political opponents in

congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. had the plea deal held, it would've been a fair resolution of hunter's cases. >> do you think the justice department is broken? >> he believes in the justice department. >> he believes in the justice department? >> he said this, this is the president saying this, i would not interfere with the justice department decision-making, i kept my word, even if i has watched my son be unfairly prosecuted. >> how many prosecutions are there at the doj? >> what i can speak to this particular case which is hunter biden which has the last name of the president, who i just said there were political opponents were very clear and very vocal about going after his son, i just laid out multiple people who are part of that system, who

have worked in the justice system or currently do so and have been very clear on how they feel about this particular case -- the cases against hunter biden. >> the judge said it was not political pressure when it came to the plea deal. they said this was a process issue. basically they had to agreements in one. basic questioning of this case that both lawyers could not really answer the questions of. so is he not undermining the judge and the judicial system he promised would be independent? >> i just talked about the deputy chief who said he was responsible for approving the charges and not prosecuting requests. i just also quoted him and what he said. and there are others who have said, former white house counsel said, i would encourage him to pardon his son.

the clemency power would extend to hunter biden's pardon. joe wennberg says this is one of those cases that called out for clemency. he would not be prosecuted for the gun crime but for his lesson. hunter has been sober for many years and this is a time when it is really appropriate to grant clemency. two things could be true, the president does believe in the justice system. and the department of justice. he also believes his son was singled out politically. this is what we saw over and over again over the last couple of years. and when his deal -- deal which the president said in his statement that the department of justice agreed with, if they had gone through,

he said that would have been fair. his political opponent has continued to revel in it. it did not seem like his political opponents would let go of it. it did not feel like they would move on. this is why this president took this action. >> is the president seeking the resignation of the attorney general? >> no. >> [indiscernible] >> i'm not going to get into the election. it is a no, i can answer that. >> this would not have happened [indiscernible] the election. >> i can't speak to hypotheticals here. where we are today, the president made this decision over the weekend. he thought about it. he wrestled with it. he made this decision because he believed his son was being

politically -- >> did he change his mind obviously because of the election? he said enough is enough. he said there could be further prosecutions of hunter. >> he did not think that they would let up. he thought they would continue to go after his son. that's what he believed. i'm not going to get into hypotheticals. the original part of your question, the president wrestled with this decision. he made the decision this weekend, and he decided to move forward with pardoning his son. >> does the president believe no w and agree with the president-elect that the justice system has been weaponize for political purposes and that it needs brute and branch reform? >> no, read the president's statement. he said he believes in the department of justice, he does. he says that in his statement.

he believes were politics infected the process and led to an injustice. he said what his political opponents have done is cruel and enough is enough. he says he believes in the justice system. i can only speak for this president, not anybody else. both things could be true, right? that's what he says. he believes in the department of justice. he also believes that politics infected the process here. and you saw that when the deal fell apart. don't forget the doj agreed on that deal. he thought it would be a fair process. when the deal fell apart, his political opponents took credit for it. it did not seem likely were

going to stop -- like they were going to stop. >> they are january 6 people in prison because of their role on january 6. do you think that is a fair parallel that he believes [indiscernible] >> we have been very clear>> -- >> we have been very clear about january 6. what we believe in this particular case is what is unprecedented in the way that his son was singled out. this is not the first time the president has granted a pardon before sentencing, pardoned a family member, or the first time it occurred during a certain time period. i to have anything else to add -- i don't have anything else to add. >> what kind of precedent is the setting going forward for american families who don't have the president as their dad?

is the president taking advantage of his position by doing this? because not everyone has president biden as their dad who can do this. >> the president said, for the entire career -- my entire career, i have followed a simple principle, to tell the american people the truth. here's the truth, i believe in the justice system but as i have wrestled with this, i also believe that were politics has infected this process and lead to a miscarriage of justice. once i made this decision this weekend,, there was no sense in delaying it further. i hope americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision. as i stated and i read a couple of quotes, he said, including eric holder, who said if his last name was joe smith, this would not have happened.

they targeted him because his last name was biden. and again, i think the way the president ended his statement clearly states where he was at, how he feels about this process, how he feels about being truthful to the american people, that's why he put out the statement and encouraged everyone to really take a look at this. the last line is, i think the american people will understand why father and a president would come to this decision. >> the u.s. has more people in prison than any country on earth. some are facing a death penalty the president himself said he would get rid of. . he has not gotten rid of it. can we expect other people in prison whose clemency

positions are sitting at the white house will have their cases have the same care and attention the president gave his own son? >> as you know, when it comes to the criminal justice system, and really making sure we get to a place where -- you know the president takes this very seriously and he understands what certain communities go through. he's been very clear about that. he's talked about that. as it relates to pardoning or any clemency, the president at the end of the year makes an announcement, thinking through that process very thoroughly. there's a process in place obviously. i'm not going to get ahead of the president on this. but you can expect more pardons and clemency at the end of this term.

>> they said after the plea deal fell apart that there would not be a part in now there is a pardon. >> he thought about this this weekend. this is a decision that he made this weekend. he agonized over it. what i can tell you is what the president said himself. he made this decision this weekend. again, i encourage you to read the statement. really, it's the first paragraph. what he has watched his son go through. an unfair process, being singled out. in the last two parts of his first paragraph, he says, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form, those who are late paying their taxes because of their addictions but pay them back subsequently with interest and penalties are given noncriminal

resolutions. it is clear that hunter was treated differently. so he wrestled with it this weekend and he made a decision this weekend on how to move forward with this. i will leave it there. >> he was wrestling with it before this we got? >> he said he wrestled with it and made this decision this weekend. >> if he was still wrestling with this decision, two things, is there anything in that statement that would be a factor in him changing his mind here? two, if he was still wrestling with it, clearly he was, we talked to the president's allies, why would he declare it off the table? why would he say, i'm not going to do this, if clearly there was an intention to do this? >> he made his decision this week at.

he wrestled with it and made this decision this weekend. it's a decision he came to terms with and made it and shared it with all of you, obviously. >> his statement, the contradiction says, i believe in this system, enough is enough -- i don't see how you can have it both ways. >> i don't think it's a contradiction. i don't. two things could be true, you can believe in the doj system and also believe that the process was infected politically. that's what the president said. remember there was a deal on the table. the -- that the doj agreed on. . and it fell apart. . political opponents praised that deal falling apart. in that regard, yes, he believes in the department of justice and the system. but there was a political

singling out of his son. other people have said this. i just read through folks who have said -- i keep going back to what eric holder said. if his last name was joe smith, he would not be going through this. his last name is biden. >> how do you fix that problem? >> this is one case. this is the son of the president, right? >> how do we make sure this never happens again? >> i'm not going into the future and how -- >> are there any systemic solutions? >> let me finish my answer. i don't have anything more beyond that. what i can speak to is this particular action that he took. what i can speak to is the decision that he made. that is where i'm going to stay. and i think that it will be

very clear to the american people why he made this decision as a father, as a president. we all saw what was going on for the past couple of years, when it came to hunter biden and the cases. the president took an action because of how politically infected these cases were and what his political opponents were trying to do. if you look at the cases, it would not have gone as far as it did. it would not have. >> he is telling us he has complete faith in the justice system except for the cases where his son was confirmed and in those cases politics corrupted the system. he can't tell us any other instance in which the president believes that politics corrupted the justice system? is this literally the only time that this has happened or the

limit of this problem, to get the trevor's question? >> if his name had been joe smith, the resolution would have been fundamentally and more fairly a declaration. from what i just read to you, from other experts, people who are smarter than i have said, because he is a biden, his last name is biden, there were actions that were taken that were far and beyond. i think i read almost all of them i had for you to share about how people felt about this. as a prosecutor, i doubt these charges would ever have been brought against a guy named hunter smith. it's because he is the son of the president. >> assistant does not get

corrupted for people whose name is not biden. you are twisting what i'm saying. i'm talking about a particular issue right now. i'm talking about the president's action on his son, pardoning his son, hunter biden. that's what i'm going to speak to. >> for families who have a child or don't have the same resources as president biden, is that fair to ask them to understand if they are not sitting in this position? >> for the past five minutes, i've been talking about why there was a political infection on this particular case. it's because it was hunter biden. that's why we are where we are and the president provided a pardon. and he believes his son was singled out. hunter biden was singled out because his dad was the

president. that's what we are talking about here and that's what we have seen the past several years and that is what the president was speaking to and that's what he took the action that he did. >> when the last round of pardons come, for those who have been waiting for a time, one could they expect that? >> i don't have a timeline for you. as usually happens toward the end. the president is going through that process. i'm not going to get ahead of him. but you can expect more announcements to come. >> i don't have anything beyond the president making this decision. >> what did he get from the white house? >> i'm not going to get into private conversations the president has. the white house informed the

doj. that's how the process went. i'm not getting into the private conversation. this is a decision that the president made himself. he wrestled with it. he made his decision this weekend. we have laid out pretty clearly what he was thinking, a statement -- his statement lays it out pretty quickly. he believes in the doj but he also believes his son was singled out politically, so he made this decision. all right, thank you. ♪ announcer: c-span's washington journal, a live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues of government, politics and public policy from washington, d.c. to across the country. coming up tuesday morning, the senior director of the clement center liberty and national security program discusses president-elect donald trump's potential use of presidential emergency powers to facilitate mass deportations. columnist and economy freedom

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