Jimmy Kimmel opened Monday’s (December 2) edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by addressing President Joe Biden‘s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, for federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
President Biden previously said he wouldn’t be pardoning his son but has now reversed his decision, which has prompted backlash on both sides of the political aisle. However, Kimmel had an innocent explanation for the president’s sudden turnaround.
“Yes, Joe Biden did say he wasn’t going to pardon Hunter, but to be fair, there’s a very good chance he doesn’t remember saying that,” Kimmel quipped, referring to the ongoing debate over the 82-year-old’s cognitive abilities.
“No one has more to be thankful for this weekend than Hunter Biden,” Kimmel added, touching on the Thanksgiving holiday. “I am not a presidential historian, but I believe this is the first time a US president has pardoned both his son and a turkey in the same week.”
Back in June, Hunter was convicted on three federal gun charges relating to the purchase of a firearm in 2018. He pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in September.
“Biden released a statement saying that the charges in Hunter’s case were politically motivated and his son was selectively and unfairly prosecuted,” Kimmel continued. “In other words, the Biden presidency has now entered the ‘grandpa doesn’t give a damn about you’ stage.”
Kimmel then threw to clips of Fox News pundits reacting with fury to the news before responding, “Everyone who voted to let a 34-time convicted felon off the hook is very mad about Joe Biden letting his son off the hook.”
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“And by the way, I don’t necessarily disagree – the guy committed crimes,” the late-night host added. “But let’s take a stroll through reality here; not only did Trump pardon his son-in-law Jared’s dad, who went to prison for hiring a hooker to frame his own brother-in-law, this weekend, he named that same man US ambassador to France.”
Elsewhere on Monday’s show, Kimmel played footage from Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. In the clip, which was shared on social media, “YMCA” is heard playing over the speakers while the president-elect hammers on the table and Elon Musk watches on.
“So cool… so, so, so cool,” Kimmel said. “That’s what Thanksgiving is like in hell, that’s what I imagine. It’s Donald, it’s Elon, and it’s ‘YMCA’ for the millionth time. “Who do you think’s sicker of that song: The staff at Mar-a-Lago or the Village People themselves?”
You can watch Kimmel’s full opening monologue in the video above.
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