Joe Biden had repeatedly denied that he was going to pardon his son Hunter’s gun and tax evasion convictions or replace what would have been a serious prison sentence.
On the Sunday night after Thanksgiving — at a time when the American public’s attention was clearly elsewhere — he announced that he had changed his mind.
“There have been attempts to break Hunter, who has been sober for five and a half years, despite relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” he wrote in a press statement announcing his decision. “As they tried to break Hunter, they tried to break me — and there’s no reason to think it’s going to stop there. It’s enough.”
The president’s explanation may sound familiar to anyone who has listened to Donald Trump’s rants against the American justice system in recent years.
As Trump leaves the White House in 2021, he has issued a series of pardons to close associates and associates who have been implicated in the many criminal investigations that have surrounded him throughout his presidency. In doing so, he circumvented the White House’s established procedures for exercising the president’s broad pardon powers. And although he was criticized for this action at the time, the political consequences were few, if any.
Biden can also be criticized – for breaking his promise and using his presidential power to protect his son. The Democratic governor, Jared Polis of Colorado, quickly released a statement saying he was “disappointed” and that the move would “tarnish” the outgoing president’s reputation.
But as Biden’s political career draws to a close, he will pay a small price for his actions. National attention will soon turn to the incoming Trump presidency.
The rules governing presidential pardons — or at least the processes and established fences that governed its use — appear to have been fundamentally and permanently changed. At this point, there may be little reason for anyone to complain, regardless of which side of the political aisle they stand on.
Trump’s camp was quick to issue a response to news of Biden’s pardon, saying the president-elect would fix the US justice system and restore due process in his second term.
That’s something to keep in mind when Trump returns to office, as he is expected to use his pardon powers again to help associates prosecuted during the Biden presidency and free many of his supporters who were sentenced on January 6, 2021. storming the US Capitol.
