Jasmine Crockett: 'Joe Biden won't lose sleep if people call him a hypocrite'
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Jasmine Crockett, Democrat House representative, tells The News Agents Joe Biden is “done” with politics, and claims Donald Trump’s second presidency will be a “danger” to the whole world.
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Read time: 4 mins
In brief…
- Jasmine Crockett tells The News Agents that Biden’s u-turn on pardoning his son was made as a father, not a president.
- The former lawyer describes the charges and case against Hunter Biden as “abnormal”, and says it was only as relentless because of his name.
- Crockett says Donald Trump is not a Republican, but insists she will work to “minimise” the damage potentially caused from the “danger” of his second term.
What’s the story?
Jasmine Crockett, Democrat representative for Texas's 30th congressional district, says she believes Joe Biden was right to pardon his son Hunter, adding the US president won't be worried about criticism of his choice.
She tells The News Agents that Biden is now "done" with politics.
Biden has been criticised this week for reversing his stance in pardoning his son, having previously said he would not do so.
Crockett says, in a new interview with Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, that since Donald Trump's win in the November election, there is no longer any "moral high-ground" in US politics.
"Things are unraveling in real time, and I think that he absolutely made the right decision when he decided to change course and said: 'Never mind. I'm going to protect my family," Crockett says.
"I think it's okay if people call him a hypocrite. That is perfectly fine.
"As someone who is over 80 years old and is done with politics, I don't think that Joe Biden is going to miss any nights of sleep because of what people call him."
The former lawyer represented the Texas House of Representatives from the 100th district from 2021 to 2023, and has been a House member since January 2023.
She was the co-chair of Kamala Harris's election campaign in 2024, and says the Vice President did "everything she could" in the 107 days she had to establish herself in the minds of US voters.
Crockett may be best-known to some for her response to Marjorie Taylor-Greene during a 2024 House debate, in which the Republican mocked the Democrat for supposedly wearing false eyelashes. Crockett replied to say she wouldn't criticise Taylor-Greene for having a "bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch-body," in a moment which went viral.
Jasmine Crockett on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “bleach blonde, bad built, butch body” during a House committee oversight hearing.
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) May 17, 2024
This started after MTG said her ‘fake eyelashes were messing up her reading’pic.twitter.com/kuPKMFAjFu
More recently, she was parodied on Saturday Night Live in a Charli XCX sketch.
The Democrat describes Biden's u-turn on pardoning his son as one made by "a father – who happened to be a president – and made a decision."
Were Hunter Biden prosecutions 'abnormal'?
One of the loudest voices to criticise the president's decision was Donald Trump, who referred to Biden's pardoning as a "miscarriage of justice".
Crockett reminds The News Agents that Trump recently appointed Charles Kushner – the father in law of his daughter Ivanka – as his ambassador to France. Trump previously pardoned Kushner for crimes of tax evasion, and witness tampering – in which he hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, filmed the encounter and sent the footage to his own sister.
"We are not living in normal times, and it's really sad, not just for the United States, but actually for the entire world," she says of Trump's second presidency.
"It is sad for anyone that expects leadership and norms out of the United States, because we have someone going into office who looks up to the likes of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
"He is someone who really is a danger to democracy as a whole. And so I do think that taking extraordinary steps is absolutely okay."
Crockett says during her 17-year law career, she never saw a prosecution like that faced by Hunter Biden, describing the situation as "abnormal" and "the type of circumstance that we do look for pardons for."
She adds that the case against Hunter Biden has been so relentless "only because his last name was Biden."
"Does that eliminate the fact that a jury came together and decided that he was guilty of a crime? Absolutely not.
"But when we know that these are crimes people normally would not be charged with, that's a little bit different."
Why Donald Trump is a 'danger' to the world
Going forward, Crockett will be working as a Democrat in a House where Republicans now have the majority.
But Donald Trump, she argues, is not a Republican.
"There are plenty of Republicans that I get along with, that I work with, and we can actually function for the American people, even though we have different opinions," she says.
"The MAGA movement is different, and Donald Trump is different.
"I personally believe that it's really important that you establish a brand, whoever you are, whatever you're running for. You have to understand that this is about branding. And Donald Trump branded himself a long time ago."
But despite also labelling the next US president as a "danger worldwide", Crockett says her role in the House is to now protect the people of America, and beyond, from the potential impact of a second Trump presidency.
"I am going to do everything that I can to minimise the harm that potentially is coming to the American people – as well as our friends abroad."
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