Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter has antagonized both sides of the US political divide, with Republicans calling out hypocrisy while Democrats warn it will undermine efforts to rein in Donald Trump.
Biden’s announcement shocked Washington after he entered the White House in 2021 promising to restore the “integrity” of a justice system that Democrats said had been corrupted by Trump — and as he specifically pledged not to grant his son a reprieve .
But on Sunday, the president instead granted a “full and unconditional” pardon, clearing 54-year-old Hunter Biden of any wrongdoing over the past decade ahead of his impending sentencing on gun and tax convictions.
Biden argued that his son had been the target of a politicized persecution launched under the Trump administration and that “there is no reason to believe it will stop here.”
The people DailyMail.com spoke to in New York City seemed mostly opposed to Biden’s actions, and few were surprised that he granted a pardon.
“I wouldn’t pardon my own daughter,” one woman said. “I don’t think a president should pardon family members. There has to be some kind of committee that does that.’
“It doesn’t sound good,” someone else said in the autumn sun on Monday. “He said he wouldn’t pardon his son, and then he did.”
Another New Yorker took a more pragmatic approach to the situation.
Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter has antagonized both sides of the US political divide, with Republicans calling out hypocrisy and Democrats warning it will undermine efforts to rein in Donald Trump.
The people DailyMail.com spoke to in New York City seemed mostly opposed to Biden’s actions. This woman said she wouldn’t even pardon her own daughter
Many of the people DailyMail.com spoke to were not surprised that Biden granted the pardon
“If we pardon crackheads, okay, whatever. You know, if you’re going to break the law, do the time,” the man reasoned. ‘Or are you not breaking the law? I don’t think anyone should be pardoned.’
“This is horrible and embarrassing,” another added. I Say you have to do what you can while you’re still there,” apparently giving Biden a stipend.
“Which of us could say they wouldn’t pardon their son as president?” one woman asked. “It does feel like a short-sighted move by Joe Biden.”
Another member of the public was more concerned about the impact this could have on the new government.
“We’re trying to get ready to stand up to Trump and authoritarianism — and then get the Democrats with such blatant corruption… I think it encourages even more corruption among Republicans,” he said.
One man was not at all surprised by Biden’s actions and responded more cynically.
‘It’s hypocrisy. You know, he said he wouldn’t do it. He didn’t keep his promise. Typical politician.’
While politicians typically pay lip service to the importance of independent law enforcement, Democrats and Republicans offer different justifications for the Justice Department’s suspicions, and presidents of both stripes have protected their allies.
‘Let the court decide!’ a man asked, and went away. If you can’t tell the time, don’t do the crime,” another park visitor added
One woman wasn’t surprised by Biden’s antics, on the left. “This is terrible and embarrassing,” this man rightly said he was concerned about the future implications
“Which of us could say they wouldn’t pardon their son as president?” one woman asked as she left. ‘It’s hypocrisy. You know, he said he wouldn’t do it. He didn’t keep his promise. Typical politician,’ this man rightly said
Trump exercised the pardon power liberally in favor of convicts with whom he had personal relationships, including his daughter’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, his friend Roger Stone and his 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Biden announced Hunter’s pardon in a statement, arguing that the charges against his son were brought in a process tainted with “raw politics.”
Hunter Biden was convicted by a jury in June of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun and pleaded guilty in a separate tax evasion trial in September.
The president and his team were adamant that he would not pardon his son, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not make this claim until November 7.
Charges for the firearms offense are rare, and the president — in language that CNN compared to Trump’s law and order rhetoric — argued that his own Justice Department was being unfairly wielded for political purposes.
In an attempt to justify his about-face, Biden said that “Hunter was only picked because he is my son.”
But Republicans argued that the pardon showed that the sitting president, not his new replacement, was politicizing the system.
President Joe Biden, accompanied by his son Hunter Biden and his grandson Beau, left a bookstore last Friday as they walked through downtown Nantucket Massachusetts
Donald Trump sees Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter as a symptom of a broken justice system that has been politicized by the liberal left, but did not directly criticize the president for the move.
Biden explained his decision to pardon Hunter in a lengthy statement Sunday evening
Insiders now say Joe Biden considered a pardon for months after Hunter’s conviction in a federal gun case over the summer
Meanwhile, Democrats worried that Trump would use Biden’s action to justify pardoning rioters jailed after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Does Joe’s pardon for Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have been held captive for years now?” Trump wrote this in a message on his Truth Social platform on Sunday. ‘What an abuse and miscarriage of justice!’
Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis said Biden’s son had brought his legal troubles on himself and accused the president of “putting his family before country.”
“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by subsequent presidents and will unfortunately tarnish his reputation,” Polis wrote on X. “If you become president, your role is Paterfamilias of the nation.”
However, political scientist Nicholas Creel of Georgia College and State University argues that nothing Biden does before leaving office will affect the actions of a successor who “simply doesn’t care about precedent.”
“Trump should never need an excuse to do whatever he wants once he comes into power,” he said.
“So while I’m sure we’ll get plenty of pundits arguing that Biden pardoning his son opens the door for Trump to use his pardon power in overtly personal and political ways, I find it laughable that this won’t always be the case . the case.’