Former Biden comms director slams ex-president's last-second pardons: 'Disappointing move'

The CNN political commentator slammed now-former President Biden's Inauguration Day pardons as antithetical to his rhetoric about respecting the "rule of law."

"It was a disappointing move," she said, adding, "I was disappointed in it. I think he has spoken so eloquently about the need to preserve the rule of law."

In a statement alongside the pardons, Biden said it was to defend them from "politically motivated investigations."

The Inauguration Day pardons follow high-profile pardons Biden enacted late last year, most notably for his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted on federal charges related to illegal firearm ownership and tax fraud.

Bedingfield suggested Biden's last-minute pardons are hypocritical, reminding viewers that the ex-president once slammed the idea of Trump pardoning his family members at the end of the president's first administration.

"As he was coming into office in 2020, he talked about the idea of Trump pardoning his family and said that it would send a bad message," the former Biden official said, adding that this criticism of Trump's pardons extends to Biden's own.

"And I think it's hard to argue that it didn't yesterday. I will be totally candid. I think it was disappointing," she said.

However, Bedingfield gave Biden some cover, noting that his stance on pardons changing might reflect Trump's alleged willingness to go after his political opponents.

"I also think you have to recognize that we are now in a Trump 2.0 era where Trump has been very clear that he intends to use the long arm of the government to go after his political enemies, and I can understand why Joe Biden might look at his family and say, 'I'm going to do everything in my power to protect them on the way out the door,'" she said.

"As a human matter, I can understand that argument," she added.

Bedingfield also said that she does not think Biden's pardons give Trump any cover for conducting his own while in office.