Biden Pardons Son, Defying Political Promises and Sparking Criticism
President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, sparking outrage among Democrats who previously criticized his repeated denials of considering such an action. The controversial move, announced after the President spent Thanksgiving with his family in Nantucket, has inflamed political tensions and raised eyebrows even within his own party.
Multiple former White House officials revealed to CNN that the potential for a pardon was widely understood for months, despite the Biden administration insisting otherwise.
“Anyone who was even close to the top knew that he was probably going to do this. Why did we pretend otherwise?” a former Senior West Wing aide remarked.
This sentiment was echoed by other former officials who recognized the inevitability of a pardon.
The legal team representing Hunter Biden reportedly believed a pardon was a realistic possibility, despite the White House claiming the final decision was only recently reached.
Hunter Biden was facing convictions on charges for illegally possessing a firearm while a drug user and pleading guilty to nine tax offenses related to unpaid taxes.
The pardon, while unsurprising to some, came as a shock to many Democrats who criticized the President’s reversal.
“As a father, I get it," Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, said on X. "But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback.”
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, echoed the sentiment, stating the President’s choice “placed personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.”
Some former administration officials suggested that the political backlash might have been milder had Biden not been so adamant about his opposition to a pardon.
“I wonder if there was a way to just be less righteous about it, and more like: ‘We’re not spending our time thinking about that,’” one ex-administration official commented.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that the president’s decision was partly influenced by former President Trump’s recent victory in the presidential election. When asked if Biden would have pardoned his son had Vice President Kamala Harris won, Jean-Pierre firmly replied, “It is a no”.
CNN
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President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son has left some Democrats fuming over his choice to repeatedly and unequivocally claim that he would never take that step, even though a pardon long appeared possible to Hunter Biden’s legal team.
Multiple officials who recently worked for Joe Biden said they never believed the president or White House aides speaking on his behalf when they insisted in recent months that a pardon for Hunter Biden was off the table.
“Anyone who was even close to the top knew that he was probably going to do this. Why did we pretend otherwise?” a former senior West Wing aide said.
A different former senior White House official said they and others around them had felt “certain” the president would ultimately pardon his son, while another ex-administration official put it this way: “It was extremely, painfully obvious that this was where things would end up.”
But even as some of Joe Biden’s closest allies were bewildered by the president’s eleventh-hour pardon, Hunter Biden and his lawyers long believed that one was possible, multiple sources told CNN. That comes despite the White House saying that a final decision on the pardon was reached only this weekend.
The president’s Sunday evening move to announce the pardon came after he spent time with his family, including Hunter, in Nantucket, Massachusetts, over the Thanksgiving holiday and has led lawmakers in Biden’s own party to criticize him. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said as recently as November 7 that a pardon for Hunter Biden was not being considered.
Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son presented a delicate balancing act for the president, who has long been fiercely loyal to his family, even when it comes at his own personal or political detriment.
Hunter Biden was convicted by a jury in June of illegally buying and possessing a gun as a drug user, after a gut-wrenching trial that delved into his drug abuse and family dysfunction. He then pleaded guilty in September to nine tax offenses, stemming from $1.4 million in taxes that he didn’t pay while spending lavishly on escorts, strippers, cars and drugs.
Sources familiar with Hunter Biden’s legal strategy said he would not have agreed to plead guilty in September to all nine charges in the federal tax case — exposing himself to the possibility of 17 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines — without the expectation of clemency.
The legal pressure on Hunter Biden mounted as his sentencing dates in December neared. People close to the president’s son said they didn’t want him to have to undergo sentencing.
In the days before the pardon was issued, Hunter Biden’s attorneys circulated a 50-page document outlining the six-year investigation of the president’s son and blaming Donald Trump and Republican allies for being the driving force behind his legal problems.
Though controversial, Joe Biden’s move to pardon a close family member or associate is not unheard of. Presidents from both parties have wielded their pardon power in ways that have raised eyebrows — though perhaps none did so after so strongly saying they would not, as Biden did.
Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, his daughter’s father-in-law, on his last month in office. President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger, who had pleaded guilty to a drug charge, on his last day in office.
Biden’s public reversal this weekend and the issuance of a sweeping “full and unconditional” pardon for his son has some Democrats wondering why he had maintained that he wouldn’t take a course of action that had seemed simply inevitable to so many around the president.
“As a father, I get it,” Rep. Greg Landsman, an Ohio Democrat, said on X. “But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback.”
Another Democrat, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, said Biden’s decision placed “personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.”
Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona said that while he respects the president, “I think he got this one wrong.”
“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution,” Stanton said on X. “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”
One former administration official suggested the blowback Monday would have been less intense had Biden not been adamant for months that he wasn’t seeking a pardon for his son.
“I wonder if there was a way to just be less righteous about it, and more like: ‘We’re not spending our time thinking about that,’” the former administration official said.
