Mum’s the Word: Adam Schiff Falls Silent on Hunter Biden Pardon

Rep. Adam Schiff once proposed legislation to scrutinize presidential pardons of family members, but he and his office are thus far silent on President Joe Biden’s Sunday night pardon of son Hunter Biden. 

Schiff, D-Calif., has not commented publicly on the matter, and his office has not responded to phone and email inquiries from The Daily Signal about the Biden pardon. Schiff is California’s new Democratic senator-elect whose current House term expires Jan. 3. 

In an April 19, 2018, post on X—then known as Twitter—Schiff wrote: “If the President issues a pardon in a case in which he or his family are implicated, the American people need to know whether it is part of an attempt to obstruct justice. This bill would make that possible and serve as a powerful deterrent.”

He also touted the bill in a CNN interview. 

As a House Democrat, Schiff was rarely at a loss for words and was perhaps the most ardent foe of President Donald Trump, eventually leading the first Trump impeachment. 

An April 18, 2018, press release from Schiff’s office noted, “There are unsettling indications that President Trump could use the expansive pardon power granted by the Constitution as an instrument to undermine the Special Counsel’s investigation and other investigations into his business, family, or his associates.”

After Democrats recaptured the House majority, Schiff reintroduced what he called the Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act on March 7, 2019. 

The legislation would require that if the president pardons someone in connection with an investigation in which the president or one of his family members is a target, subject, or witness, the evidence against the recipient of the pardon would be provided to Congress.

But, had it been enacted, it likely would have affected President Joe Biden. A Republican-led House impeachment inquiry concluded that Biden engaged in a “conspiracy to monetize” his public office as vice president and enrich his family by at least $27 million, according to three Republican-led House committees that oversaw an impeachment inquiry.

“The President has a broad power to confer pardons, but not when they are designed to insulate himself, his family and his associates from criminal investigation. Such an abuse of the pardon power would amount to obstruction of justice and is not countenanced by the Constitution,” Schiff said in a statement after introducing the 2019 legislation. “The Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act creates a powerful check against deploying pardons in cases involving the president or his immediate family by ensuring that any evidence gathered in such an investigation is provided to Congress.”

Days before Biden pardoned his son, Schiff was decrying the Justice Department undermining special counsel Jack Smith’s past comments that “no one is above the law,” and “we’re hearing that phrase a lot, but we’re not giving validity to it.”

As of publication time, Schiff had not posted on either his congressional X account, nor on his personal and campaign X account about the Biden pardon. 

Investigations by House committees found that as vice president from 2009 through 2017, Joe Biden communicated with those involved in business deals of Hunter Biden and other Biden family members. 

The Daily Signal sent two email inquiries to Schiff spokesperson Marisol Samayoa on Monday morning and in the afternoon about the legislation, and also left a voicemail with Schiff’s office in the late afternoon. No one responded.

Schiff’s office and staff are in the process of a transition from the House to the Senate. 

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