WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to go back at his word and grant a categorical pardon to his son, Hunterjust weeks before his scheduled sentencing on gun and tax convictions, was a surprise that wasn’t so surprising.
Not for those who witnessed the president’s shared anguish over his two sons after the boys survived a car crash that killed Biden’s first wife and a daughter more than half a century ago. Or for those who regularly heard the president mourn death from his eldest son, Beauof cancer or voice problems – largely privately Hunter’s sobriety and health after years of deep addiction.
But by choosing to put his family first, the 82-year-old president — who vowed to restore a fractured public’s trust in the country’s institutions and respect for the rule of law — has raised new questions about his already shaky legacy.
“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by future presidents and will unfortunately tarnish his reputation,” Colorado’s Democratic Gov. said. Jared Polis wrote in a post on
Biden aides and allies had resigned themselves to the prospect of the president using his extraordinary power in the final days of his presidency to ensure his son would not see time behind bars, especially after Donald Trump ‘s victory. The president’s supporters have long viewed Biden’s commitment to his family as an asset, even as Hunter’s personal behavior and complicated business transactions were seen as a permanent obligation.
But the pardon comes as Biden has become increasingly isolated since then the loss to Trump by Vice President Kamala Harriswho entered the race after the president’s catastrophic debate against Trump in June forced his departure from the elections.
He continues to struggle to resolve thorny foreign policy issues in the Middle East and Europe. And he must reckon with his decision to seek re-election despite his advanced age, which returned the Oval Office to Trump, a man he had warned time and again was a threat to democratic norms.
Trump has gleefully plotted to undo Biden’s signature achievements on climate change and roll back the Democrat’s efforts to revitalize the country’s alliances, even as he stands ready to take the credit demands for a strengthening economy and billions in infrastructure investments that are in the pipeline in the near future.
And now Biden has given the Republican a pretext to move forward with sweeping plans to upend the Justice Department, as the Republican promises to do. seeking retaliation against perceived opponents.
“This pardon is just deflating for those of us who have been shouting for a few years about what a threat Trump is,” Republican Joe Walsh, an outspoken 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.”
Trump had already made clear his intention to disrupt the agency with his first appointment of outspoken critics former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be attorney general and Kash Patel to replace FBI Director Christopher Wraywho nominally still has more than two years left in his term of office. (Gaetz eventually quickly withdrew his name after investigating allegations of sex trafficking.)
In response to the pardon, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement: “That justice system must be restored and due process must be restored for all Americans, and that is exactly what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House with a overwhelming majority. mandate of the American people.”
In a post on social media, the president-elect himself called the pardon “such an abuse and a miscarriage of justice.”
“Does Joe’s pardon for Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have been held captive for years now?” Trump asked. He was referring to those convicted of the January 6, 2021, violent riot at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Biden and his spokespeople had repeatedly and bluntly ruled out the president pardoning his son.
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 pardon him.”
Press officer in July Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters: “It’s still a no. It will be a no. It’s a no. And I have nothing further to add. Will he pardon his son? No.”
In November, days after Trump’s victory, Jean-Pierre reiterated that message: “Our answer remains: no.”
Neither Biden nor the White House explained the shift in the president’s thinking, and both his broken promise and his act of clemency were 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 charges after serving his sentence about a decade earlier. In his final weeks as president Trump pardoned Charles Kushnerthe father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as several allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Still, Biden asserted that he was putting his respect for the American legal system and the rule of law above his own personal concerns — in an effort to create a deliberate contrast with Trump, who tested the limits of his authority like few predecessors.
Inside the White House, the timing of the pardon was surprising 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 just after Biden spent extended time with Hunter and other family members on Nantucket, Massachusetts, last week, a family tradition for Thanksgiving.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have struggled with this, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice – and when I made this decision this weekend, there was no point in delaying it . further,” 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 oriented prosecution of his son, resembled the complaints Trump – who has now faced abandoned charges over his role in undermining the 2020 election – has made. has been talking about the Department of Justice for years.
Biden said the charges in his son’s cases “came about only 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 were somewhat unusual, but the facts of the crimes were hardly in dispute, as Hunter wrote in his memoir about his gun purchase while addicted to illegal drugs and ultimately pleaded guilty to the taxation.
The pardon was also unusual because Hunter Biden was even convicted and not just the punishment weapons and tax crimes against his son, but also everything else he may have done since early 2014.
It’s a move that could limit the ability of Trump’s Justice Department to investigate the younger Biden’s unsavory foreign business dealings, or find new grounds on which to bring criminal charges related to that period.
Biden asked for consideration in his statement: “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.