The shamelessness of the first family was writ large at the White House this week as the president’s final whirl of Christmas parties attracted social media “influencers” whose biggest thrill was posting selfies with celebrity nepotist Hunter Biden.
In the very week that he was due to be sentenced to jail for tax fraud, the first son merrily pressed the flesh and flashed his $70,000 pearly whites, secure in the knowledge that his father’s “full and unconditional” pardon has got him off the hook for any and all crimes committed for the past 11 years.
The outrage over Hunter’s pardon has been buried in an avalanche of other pardons Joe Biden has been doling out like candy to assorted scumbags.
Among this week’s record round of 1,499 commutations and 39 pardons are Chinese spies and a child-porn aficionado, a Pennsylvania judge convicted over the “Kids for Cash” scandal in which children were sent to for-profit prisons in return for kickbacks, a Mississippi cancer doctor who gave patients only partial doses of chemotherapy, assorted fraudsters and, appropriately, corrupt Democrat politicians.
It’s a fitting end to Biden’s beknighted presidency.
But there are other people he ought to pardon whose lives have been ruined because they fell afoul of the Bidens.
Dragged down
Take Devon Archer. A self-made man from humble beginnings on Long Island, he was dragged down by his association with Hunter, who called him his “best friend,” and then left him in the lurch when a deal went bad and Archer was charged with fraud.
Archer was not a son of privilege. He grew up the son of a Vietnam vet-turned-Realtor and a teacher.
A talented lacrosse player, he worked hard to get into Yale where he met Chris Heinz, the scion of the ketchup family, and ex-boyfriend of Gwyneth Paltrow.
They co-founded private equity firm Rosemont Capital and were riding high when fellow Yalie Hunter joined.
“I thought it was the most genius move ever but it ended up being absolute kryptonite,” says Archer.
It was Hunter’s identity as a “Politically Exposed Person,” flagged by bank investigators as potentially a high risk for bribery and corruption, that eventually led to an FBI investigation that ensnared Archer and others over the collapsed firm Burnham Asset Management.
Despite being vice chairman, Hunter was not even called to testify, while Archer lost everything and has spent eight years in legal limbo.
Judge Ronnie Abrams declared an “unwavering concern that Archer is innocent” when she overturned his conviction in 2018, before it was reinstated on appeal. In May 2024, Abrams quashed his sentence over a guidelines error, and he is due to be resentenced next year.
In the meantime, he has testified to Congress, and provided crucial evidence implicating the president in Hunter’s lucrative schemes.
“I’ve lost eight years of my life,” says Archer. “The fact that Hunter has been able to wipe the slate clean seems very unjust.”
On the upside, the ordeal has brought him closer to his wife and their three children.
“It’s been a really healthy filter on who your real friends are [and] the importance of family. It’s given me a deep understanding of how much I love my wife and what a special person she is that sometimes you can lose your focus on in the hustle and bustle of [a busy] career.”
Of course, Joe Biden will never do the right thing by Archer, because that would be to admit his own culpability.
But the injustice of Archer’s predicament is on Joe’s conscience.
Drones on Joe’s watch
The reason for growing public concern about the New Jersey drone sightings is because nobody trusts the federal government.
Incompetence and dishonesty are what we have come to expect after four years.
So, when Joe Biden tells us there is nothing to worry about, warning bells clang.
A proper president would have kept us informed and reassured instead of tossing off alarming statements to reporters this week, en route to another vacation.
“Nothing nefarious apparently, but they’re checking it all out,” he said.
Apparently?! Who is “they?”
“We’re following this closely, but so far no sense of danger.”
So far?! January 20 cannot come fast enough.
Well-heeled Nancy’s downfall
All the best for Nancy Pelosi’s recovery from hip surgery after falling over on marble stairs during a junket to Luxembourg.
But why on Earth was she tottering around on 4-inch stilettos at her age?
Even the most agile young supermodel knows that the pointy heel provides little support on uneven or slippery surfaces.
A fall at age 84 invariably results in severe injuries — like hip fractures. Some women are willing to suffer for vanity but this is ridiculous. It also cost taxpayers a fortune to airlift the self-styled “Speaker Emerita” to a hospital in Germany.
She should wear ballet flats and save all of us a lot of trouble.
Hochul hospital hoodwink
Gov. Hochul boasts about her social-justice record but she is presiding over the alleged rip-off of a safety-net hospital in Nassau County that serves the poorest of the poor.
The Nassau University Medical Center is suing New York for $1.06 billion it claims the state has defrauded from its coffers over the past two decades.
As the only public hospital in the county, 80% of its 275,000 patients are low income, uninsured, as well as on Medicare and Medicaid.
It includes a nursing home and jail infirmary, Long Island’s only burn unit and its largest inpatient psychiatric treatment center.
Despite its vital role, NUMC was a financial basket case losing $180 million a year when Republican Bruce Blakeman was elected as county executive two years ago and asked wealthy businessman Matthew Bruderman to save the hospital as its pro bono chairman.
“It was a dumpster fire,” says Bruderman. Millions of dollars were wasted on embezzlement and patronage jobs.
Bruderman managed to balance the books, extend clinic hours to nights and weekends, and appoint a competent CEO, in a turnaround model that could be replicated across the nation.
But the shocking discovery when he audited the finances was that New York, through a sleight of hand, has not been matching federal funds for Medicaid expenditures as required by law.
Documents seen by The Post reveal a $50 million shortfall in 2024 alone. The hospital alleges that it has been ripped off every year since 2006.
Hochul has to make the hospital whole — or be exposed as a hypocrite.
