WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to go back on his word and grant his son Hunter a categorical pardon just weeks before his scheduled sentencing on gun and tax convictions was a surprise that wasn’t all that surprising.
Not for those who had witnessed the president’s shared mourning for his two sons after the boys survived a car crash more than half a century ago that killed Biden’s first wife and a daughter. Or to those who have heard the president routinely lament the death of his older son Beau from cancer or fret — largely privately — about Hunter’s sobriety and health after years of deep addiction.
But by deciding to put his family first, the 82-year-old president – who had promised to restore the shattered public’s trust in the country’s institutions and respect for the rule of law – has raised new questions about his already already shaky legacy.
“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by future presidents and will unfortunately tarnish his reputation,” Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis wrote in a post on Above the Law, No President and No Son of a President.”
Biden aides and allies had resigned themselves to the prospect that the president would utilize his extraordinary power in the final days of his presidency to ensure that his son would not see any time behind bars, especially after Donald Trump’s victory. The president’s supporters have long viewed Biden’s commitment to his family as an overall advantage, even as Hunter’s personal behavior and tangled business relationships are viewed as a lasting liability.
But the pardon comes as Biden has become increasingly isolated since Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump, who entered the race after the president’s disastrous debate against Trump in June forced his exit from the election.
He is still struggling to resolve thorny foreign policy issues in the Middle East and Europe. And he must reckon with his decision to run for re-election despite his advanced age, which helped win the Oval Office back from Trump, a man he had repeatedly warned was a threat to democratic norms.
Trump has gleefully plotted to undo Biden’s outstanding achievements on climate change and reverse Democrats’ efforts to revitalize the country’s alliances, while poised to take credit for a strengthening economy and billions of dollars in infrastructure investment. that are planned for the coming years.
And now Biden has given the Republican an excuse to implement sweeping plans to overhaul the Justice Department, while the Republican promises to retaliate against perceived opponents.
“This pardon is just disappointing to those of us who have been out there for a few years screaming about what a threat Trump is,” Republican Joe Walsh, a vocal Trump critic, said on MSNBC. “’No one is above the law,’ we shouted. Well, Joe Biden just made it clear that his son Hunter is above the law.”
Jean-Pierre said Monday from Air Force One that the president wrestled with the decision but ultimately felt his son’s case was influenced by politics, even though she tried to thread the needle – by insisting that he had confidence in 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 clear his intention to disrupt federal law enforcement, naming first-time outspoken critics like former Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Kash Patel as the successor to FBI Director Christopher Wray, who nominally has more than two has years left in his term of office. (Gaetz eventually quickly withdrew his name as the sex trafficking allegations were investigated.)
In response to the pardon, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement: “This justice system must be repaired and due process restored for all Americans, and that is exactly what President Trump will do when he overwhelmingly returns to the White House.” of the American people.
In a social media post, the president-elect himself called the pardon “such an abuse and miscarriage of justice.”
“Does the pardon granted by Joe Hunter extend to the J-6 hostages who have been imprisoned for years?” Trump asked. He was referring to those condemned by his supporters in the violent riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Biden and his spokesmen had repeatedly and flatly ruled out the president granting his son a pardon.
In June, Biden told reporters as his son stood trial in the Delaware gun case: “I stand by the jury’s decision. ‘I will do that and I will not forgive him.’
In July, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “It’s still a no.” It will be a no. It’s a no. And I have nothing more to add. Will he forgive his son? NO.”
In November, days after Trump’s victory, Jean-Pierre repeated this message: “Our answer remains, which is no.”
Neither Biden nor the White House explained the change in the president’s thinking, and it was both his broken promise and his act of mercy that acted as a lightning rod.
He is hardly the first president to pardon a family member or friend involved in political dealings. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for drug offenses after he had served his sentence about a decade earlier. In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as several allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Nevertheless, Biden claimed that he was putting his respect for the American justice system and the rule of law above his own personal concerns and sought to create a conscious contrast to Trump, who tested the limits of his authority like no other predecessor.
At 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 AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. It came shortly after Biden spent extended time with Hunter and other family members on Nantucket, Massachusetts, last week, a family Thanksgiving tradition.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with it, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice – and having made that decision this weekend, there was no point in delaying it .” continued,” Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon.
Some in the administration have privately expressed concern that the content of Biden’s statement, including his allegation of an unfair, politically tinged prosecution of his son, was similar to complaints made by Trump — against whom charges have since been dropped over his role in the attempt to to undermine the 2020 election. I’ve been doing something about the Justice Department for years.
Biden said the charges in his son’s cases “only came about after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election.” Many legal experts agreed that the charges against the younger Biden was somewhat unusual, but the facts of the offenses were hardly in dispute, as Hunter wrote in his memoirs about buying guns while addicted to illegal drugs and eventually pleading guilty to tax charges.
The pardon was also unusual because it came before Hunter Biden was even convicted, and covered not only the gun and tax offenses against his son, but also anything else he may have done since early 2014.
It’s a move that could limit the Trump Justice Department’s ability to investigate the younger Biden’s unsavory foreign dealings or find new ways to bring criminal charges related to that period.
Biden called for reflection in his statement: “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
___
Associated Press Writer Aamer Madhani in Washington and Will Weissert aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.
