This past week, President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, as one of eleven pardons in his presidency. This comes as a partial shock to the country, as Biden has said since the beginning of his term as president that he would not pardon his son. Biden further reiterated this during his campaign before dropping out of the race.
In his statement, Biden said that he “didn’t want to interfere with the justice department” on the matter of Hunter. However, Biden now feels his son is being “unfairly prosecuted” and that he needed to step in. Biden claims that due to his own position as president, Hunter was treated differently than others in similar situations.
Hunter was on trial for two charges: gun convictions and tax evasion. He was indicted on three felony gun charges. He was accused of purchasing and possessing firearms and lying on paperwork while he was addicted to crack cocaine. It is a federal law that users of illegal drugs cannot possess firearms. In a separate case, Hunter was accused of failing to pay over $1.4 million in federal taxes while living a “lavish lifestyle.” For the gun charges, he had been scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, Dec. 12 and Monday, Dec. 16 for the tax evasion charges.
The president is acquiring backlash from both sides of the political spectrum. However, he is especially receiving backlash from his own party. Representative Pete Aguilar (D-CA) says, “…as someone who has spent a lot of time at this podium talking about the importance of respecting the rule of law, it’s disappointing.” Furthering his statement by saying, “The president gave his word. He said publicly that he wasn’t going to give a pardon, and then he did. So that part’s disappointing.” Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ) said Biden “…got this one wrong.” He commented on X that Hunter “committed felonies” and was “convicted by a jury of his peers,” insinuating that Hunter’s trial had nothing to do with his father’s place in the White House but rather his own wrongdoing. He furthered his statement by saying that this wasn’t a “politically motivated prosecution.”
Biden knew this pardon would be controversial and bad for approval ratings, so he held off on it until his last few weeks in office. This is a typical way that presidents use their pardon power when it is a controversial pardon. However, Biden is receiving more backlash for this pardon because he gave his word to the people that he wouldn’t use his power to pardon his son. Furthermore, his son wasn’t being attacked for political motives but rather for his legitimate crimes.
Overall, the pardon was a very bad look for Biden; even the Democrats are against it and turning on him. However, Biden will not be running for any more positions in political office once he is out of the White House, so this personal pardon won’t affect his future endeavors, just his legacy as president.