By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House said on Monday that President Joe Biden had partially pardoned his son Hunter to protect him from future persecution by political opponents, but the move drew fierce criticism and some Democrats they say it undermines public confidence in the rule of law.
Biden, a Democrat whose term ends Jan. 20 when Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office, signed an unconditional pardon for Hunter Biden on Sunday and said he believes his son was selectively prosecuted and unfairly targeted by the president’s political opponents.
Biden has said in the past that he would not pardon his son, including by ABC News in June when he was asked if he would rule it out and said “yes.”
His surprise move was condemned by his Republican political opposition, as well as Democrats who said it undermined confidence in the justice system, a concept Biden and his party have used to criticize Trump.
Hunter was prosecuted for tax violations and firearms charges after years of being targeted by congressional Republicans who accused him of making business deals using his father’s name but failed to establish any clear links.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday defended the president’s action and said Biden believed Hunter was facing further grief from his opponents, whom she did not name. Jean-Pierre was one of the White House officials who had repeatedly said in the past that Biden would not pardon his son.
“One of the reasons the president did the pardon was because it seemed like — his political … opponents — weren’t going to back down. It didn’t seem like they were going to move on,” she told reporters at the Air Force Base. One during a trip to Angola. “They would continue to go after his son. That’s what he believed in.”
Jean-Pierre emphasized that this is not the first time the president has pardoned a family member. Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger before leaving office, and Trump pardoned his daughter’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner.
Jean-Pierre said Biden has faith in the Justice Department despite his statement that his son’s judicial process is “infected” with politics.
“Two things could be true: the president believes in the judicial … system and … the Department of Justice, and he also believes that his son is politically isolated,” she said.
She declined to provide further details about why or how Biden changed his mind, or whether the recent election that put Republicans in charge of the White House and both houses of Congress played a role.
Republicans accused Biden of lying. Democrats were divided, with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis suggesting he put family before country and former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder saying the pardon was justified.
“Joe Biden has an opportunity to do more than protect his own. He can extend the same compassion he showed his son to the millions of people imprisoned for nonviolent offenses,” Black Lives Matter said in a post on Xu, formerly Twitter.
The The New York Times (NYSE: ) reported that Biden is concerned that the pressure of the trial could affect his son’s sobriety and that nothing short of a full pardon appears to have been considered.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in September in Los Angeles federal court and was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 16 by Mark C. Scarsi, a judge appointed by Republican President Donald Trump. A jury found him guilty in June of making false statements during a gun check; she was to be sentenced for those charges this month.
Biden said Sunday that his son was selectively prosecuted and treated differently than others in similar situations. “No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases can come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out just because he’s my son — and that’s wrong,” he said.
Late Sunday, Hunter Biden’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against him.
