President Joe Biden’s decision to return on his word and issue a categorical pardon for his son, Hunterjust weeks before the scheduled gun and tax ruling was a surprise that wasn’t so surprising.
Not to those who witnessed the president’s shared anguish over his two sons after the boys survived the car crash that killed Biden’s first wife and daughter more than half a century ago. Or to those who have heard the president regularly lamenting the death his older son Beaufrom cancer or voice concerns – mostly private – Fr Hunter’s sobriety and health after years of deep addiction.
But by choosing to put his family first, the 82-year-old president — who has promised to restore shattered public confidence in national institutions and respect for the rule of law — has raised new questions about his already faltering legacy.
“This is a bad precedent that future presidents could abuse and will unfortunately tarnish his reputation,” said Colorado’s Democratic governor. Jared Polis he wrote in a post on X. He added that while he can sympathize with Hunter Biden’s struggles, “no one is above the law, not the president or the president’s son.”
Biden aides and allies were resigned to the prospect of the president using his extraordinary power in the final days of his presidency to ensure his son does not spend time behind bars, especially after Donald Trump is a victory. The president’s supporters have long viewed Biden’s commitment to his family as an overall asset, even if Hunter’s personal behavior and tangled affairs it was considered a permanent obligation.
But the pardon comes as Biden has since become increasingly isolated losing to Trump from Vice President Kamala Harriswho jumped into the race after the president’s the disastrous debate against Trump in June forced to withdraw from the election.
It is still struggling to resolve thorny foreign policy issues in the Middle East and Europe. And he must reckon with his decision to seek re-election despite his advanced age, which has helped return the Oval Office to Trump, a man he has repeatedly warned poses a threat to democratic norms.
Trump gleefully planned to roll back Biden’s signature climate change achievements and reverse Democratic efforts to reinvigorate the country’s alliances, all while readily taking credit for a boost to the economy and billions in infrastructure investment slated for the coming years.
And now, Biden has given the Republican an excuse to implement sweeping plans to take down the Justice Department because the Republican promises seek retribution against alleged opponents.
“This pardon is just deflationary for those of us who have been out there for several years shouting about what a threat Trump is,” Republican Joe Walsh, a vocal Trump critic, said on MSNBC. “No one is above the law,” we screamed. Well, Joe Biden just made it clear that his son Hunter is above the law.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre she said Monday from Air Force One that the president wrestled with the decision but ultimately felt his son’s case was tainted by politics, even as she tried to thread the needle — insisting he trusted the Justice Department.
“He believes in the justice system, but he also believes that politics has infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice,” she said.
But Trump has already made his intention to disrupt federal law enforcement abundantly clear with his initial appointments of outspoken critics like former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be the state attorney general and Kash Patel to replace FBI Director Christopher Wraywho nominally still has more than two years left in his mandate. (Gaetz eventually quickly withdrew his name amid an investigation into sex-trafficking allegations.)
Reacting to the pardon, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement: “That justice system must be fixed and due process must be established for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House with an overwhelming majority of of the American people.”
In a post on social media, the president-elect himself called the pardon “such an abuse and failure of justice.”
“Does the pardon Joe gave Hunter include the J-6 hostages who have been locked up for years now?” Trump asked. He was referring to those convicted in the January 6, 2021, violent riots at the US Capitol by his supporters to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Biden and his spokespeople have repeatedly and bluntly ruled out the possibility of the president pardoning his son.
In June, Biden told reporters as his son faced trial in a gun case in Delaware: “I submit to the jury’s decision. I will do it and I will not forgive him.”
In July, Jean-Pierre told reporters: “It’s still no. It will be no. That’s a no. And I have nothing else to add. Will he pardon his son? Not.”
In November, a few days after Trump’s victory, Jean-Pierre repeated that message: “Our answer stands, and that is no.”
Neither Biden nor the White House explained the change in the president’s thinking, and his broken promise was as much a lightning rod as his act of pardoning.
He is hardly the first president to pardon a family member or friend involved in political affairs. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger on drug charges after serving time about a decade earlier. In his last weeks on duty, Trump pardoned Charles Kushnerthe father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Still, Biden acted as if he were putting his respect for America’s justice system and the rule of law ahead of his own personal concerns — trying to draw a deliberate contrast with Trump, who has tested the limits of his authority like few of his predecessors.
Inside the White House, the timing of the pardon came as a surprise to some who believed Biden would delay it as long as possible, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. It came just after Biden spent extended time last week with Hunter and other family members on Nantucket, Massachusetts, a family tradition for Thanksgiving.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I’ve fought this, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice — and when I made this decision this weekend, it didn’t make sense to delay it any further,” Biden said in statement announcing the pardon.
Some in the administration privately expressed concern that the content of Biden’s statement, including his allegation of an unfair, politically-tinged prosecution of his son, resembled complaints made by Trump — who faced now-dismissed charges over his role in trying to undermine the 2020 election and has been working for the Department for years of the judiciary.
Biden said the allegations in his son’s cases “came only after several of my political opponents in Congress encouraged them to attack me and oppose my election.” Many legal experts agreed that the allegations against the younger Biden were somewhat unusual, but the facts of the offenses were hardly in dispute, since Hunter wrote in his memoirs about buying guns while addicted to illegal drugs and eventually pleaded guilty to tax evasion. accusations.
The pardon was also unusual, coming before Hunter Biden was even convicted and not just about weapons and tax offenses against his son, but also anything else he could do since the beginning of 2014.
It’s a move that could limit Trump’s Justice Department’s ability to investigate the younger Biden’s unsavory foreign dealings or find new grounds for criminal charges related to that period.
In his statement, Biden asked for consideration: “I hope the American people will understand why a father and a president would make this decision.”
