AOC Wants Biden To Keep Going After Pardoning His Son And Commute Sentences Of Death Row Inmates

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) broke her silence on the topic of President Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter: she called the president to continue issuing similar decisions to benefit federal inmates on death row.

The reaction marks a contrasts with the stance taken by other Democrats who criticized Biden for pardoning his son despite repeatedly saying he wouldn't do so.

Speaking to The Independent, AOC said "it's less about the fact that the President pardoned his son and more about the fact that he's only pardoning his son when there are, in fact, many people, including Leonard Peltier, as well as several other cases of many Americans who are on death row, who should be taken off death row, and who are facing the end of their lives if this president does not act."

Peltier is a Native American activist serving a life sentence for killing two FBI agents in 1975. Advocates say he has been wrongly convicted. Peltier admitted to taking part in the shootout where the agents were killed but said he did not kill them.

The lawmaker didn't specifically address the pardon to Hunter Biden, likely a tough pill to swallow considering she had publicly celebrated a verdict against Hunter earlier this year as an illustration of Democrats "willing to accept" negative legal outcomes, unlike their Republican counterparts.

Back in June, AOC said that the conviction of Hunter Biden on charges related to lying on a mandatory gun purchasing form showed that "if anything, this shows the difference that Democrats are willing to accept when our justice system works."

"We're not contesting the results. We're not here trying to defund the FBI or the Department of Justice because we don't like the outcome of a given trial. We respect the judicial process," AOC said in an interview with CNN back then.

Now she said she hopes to see "far, far, far more commutations and clemencies that are provided because the current administration has issued a record-low number." The outlet detailed that Biden has so far issued 26 pardons, a figure that compares to the 237 issued by Donald Trump in his first presidency.

"I would hate to see is President Biden leaving office with less commutations and clemency issuances than even President Trump provided," she concluded.