Whoopi Goldberg And Charlamagne Tha God Got Into A Surprisingly Tense Debate Over Joe Biden Pardoning Hunter

Hunter Biden faced felony tax and gun charges, which respectively carried sentences of up to 17 and 25 years in prison, but was pardoned by his father Sunday for any crimes he “committed or may have committed or taken part in” between Jan. 1, 2014, and  Dec. 1, 2024. 

Charlamagne, the outspoken The Breakfast Club radio show co-host, argued Wednesday on The View that the bipartisan condemnation of the pardon is “valid” because “Democrats stand on this moral high ground all the time” — and “act so self-righteous” about justice.

Joe Biden previously said he would not intervene in his son’s impending prosecutions. He also stated on social media following the guilty verdict of President-elect Donald Trump in his New York City criminal trial in May that “No one is above the law.”

“He could have said, ‘Hey man, I’m not focused on that right now,’ but since they were calling Trump a threat to democracy and they were saying nobody is above the law … [they contradicted what] they were running on,” Charlamagne said Wednesday.

He continued, “So when he kept saying things like, ‘Ah, you know, nobody is above the law, I respect the jury’s decision in regards to my son,’ he didn’t believe that! But he didn’t have to volunteer that lie to begin with.”

That last line earned Charlamagne some temporary ire from Goldberg. 

“I’m going to stop you for a second,” she said, and argued to the radio host, born Lenard McKelvey, that he doesn’t actually know if “it was a lie” or why the president reversed course regarding the pardon.

“You really think he just changed his mind over Thanksgiving weekend all of a sudden?” Charlamagne asked.

“I think he changed his mind because he got sick of watching everybody else get over,” said Goldberg. “At some point, you get to the place where you just go, ’So I’m just going to follow the straight and narrow, always, ‘cause that’s what’s expected of Democrats?’”

Charlamagne said the expectation in this case came from the president himself, however, and slammed the team-based mentality of partisan loyalists who “refuse to be objective” about their own party.

Goldberg, a Democrat, said in response, “Democrats are not a monolith.”

“Why can’t you say when Democrats are wrong?” Charlamagne replied. “And why can’t Republicans say when Republicans are wrong?”

Goldberg claimed she does hold the party accountable on the air and reiterated that she doesn’t think the pardon was a political mistake.

Charlamagne called her response “ridiculous,” which Goldberg misheard as an insult, prompting him to repeat his claim and make amends on air.

“I didn’t say you were ridiculous, Ms. Goldberg,” said Charlamagne before they hugged. “I would never.”

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.