Newsom Breaks With Biden Over Son’s Pardon: ‘i Took The President At His Word’

SACRAMENTO, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is breaking with Joe Biden over the president’s stunning decision to pardon his son Hunter, telling POLITICO on Tuesday that he was disappointed by the action.

“With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter,” Newsom said. “But I took the president at his word. So by definition, I’m disappointed and can’t support the decision.”

Newsom did not elaborate further. Instead of diving into moral or ethical failures — or even its impact on executive power or the future of democracy — the California governor focused exclusively on the president shattering his trust. Biden and his aides had repeatedly asserted that he would not pardon Hunter before the about-face.

Newsom’s remarks came in response to questions from POLITICO soon after the White House announced the pardon Sunday evening.

With his unequivocal comments Newsom instantly becomes one of the highest-profile members of his party — if not the most prominent voice — to denounce the president’s sweeping action.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry seeking comment.

It is a painful turn for Newsom, a Democrat who had grown personally close with the president in recent years and had emerged as one of his most vocal defenders.

Newsom met privately with Biden during a lengthy visit to the White House just two weeks ago, where he appealed to the outgoing administration to approve pending federal disaster relief funding and pushed for programs to expand access to healthcare along with various initiatives aimed at improving clean air.

And for more than two years — on the road, in debate spin rooms and on Sunday news shows — Newsom vociferously defended the president’s record, his decision to seek reelection as well as his mental and physical capabilities. Biden, too, had been there for Newsom, headlining a big rally in Southern California as the governor fended off a GOP-led attempt to recall him in 2021.

Newsom and Hunter Biden have been in personal communication before, including a private exchange that came a decade ago, in October 2014, following his discharge from the Navy Reserve. "Like so many other things in life, this will pass and you will come out of the white water stronger — Gavin," he wrote to Hunter Biden in an email with the subject line of "hang in there."

But Newsom has been sparing in his public comments on Hunter Biden’s legal troubles. Pressed on the issue in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash last year, when he was asked about the younger Biden trying to leverage his father’s name and how the elder Biden allegedly joined phone calls with his son’s business associates, Newsom said “I don't know enough about the details of that. I mean I've seen a little of that.”

“If that's the new criteria, there are a lot of folks in a lot of industries – not just in politics – where people have family members and relationships and they're trying to parlay and get a little influence and benefit in that respect. That's hardly unique,” Newsom told CNN at the time.

But, the governor added, "I don’t love that any more than you love it or other people I imagine love that. We want to see a lot less of that, but an impeachment inquiry? Give me a break.”