Miranda Devine: If Joe Biden can pardon his son Hunter, why cant he do the same for best friend Devon Archer?
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.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,” ...