December 7 – President Biden’s decision to renege on his promise not to forgive the crimes of his prodigal son has ramifications for the US justice system.
Ironically, it could also reduce resistance to President-elect Trump pardoning members of the mob that stormed the Capitol nearly four years ago in an attempt to overturn Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The two situations are obviously not equivalent. Yet they both go to the heart of America’s scruples.
More than 1,100 Trump supporters were convicted of taking part in the siege that sent a joint session of Congress into hiding, injured dozens of police officers and left the Capitol in shambles.
Several defendants were given misdemeanor probation for entering the Capitol with the mob. But more than 600 people were jailed from one month to up to 22 years on charges of destroying property, assault and battery or encouraging the attack.
Trump described them as “political prisoners” and “patriots” and promised to pardon them if they were re-elected president. He recently said he will decide on their pardons on a case-by-case basis.
A song titled “Justice for All” described their fate. The song was created and frequently posted to social media by a group of January 6 defendants (“J6 Choir”) incarcerated in a prison block in Washington, DC. The song’s popularity attracted sympathizers across the country. It was briefly on the music’s top hits list.
Democrats and legal experts denounce Trump’s plan to pardon Jan. 6 defendants as victims of misguided justice. The objection is somewhat hypocritical in the wake of Biden pardoning son Hunter. He was convicted of lying on a gun permit application and evading income tax.
What is destroying the rule of law is Biden’s broken promise to make his son face the consequences of his crimes, including possible prison sentences. His stunning turnaround occurred, he said, because his son was the victim of a political prosecution by the Justice Department.
That is precisely why Trump is putting forward his intention to pardon some, if not all, of the January 6 defendants. He also claims that is why he was prosecuted and convicted of 34 crimes in his hush money trial, as well as charges still pending in his other lawsuits.
Oddly enough, it appears that Biden and Trump agree that the Justice Department has been weaponized for political purposes. Trump says that when he returns to office, he will rid the department, including the FBI office, of what he calls partisan hacks aimed at destroying the country.
They will, of course, be replaced by diehard loyalists committed to his America First agenda.
Democrats can hardly object. Their president for the past four years has doomed the Justice Department and demoralized its employees for his own good. And just two months before he left the White House.
Listen to his attempt to rationalize the decision to pardon his son when he repeatedly said he didn’t want to.
“Throughout my career, I have followed a simple principle: Just tell the American people the truth. They will be honest,” Biden said in a statement. “Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I struggle with this, I also believe that raw politics tainted the process and led to a miscarriage of justice (of his son).”
Biden asked Americans to understand “why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
Many won’t.
Of course, other presidents, including Trump during his first term, have pardoned family and friends for alleged criminal behavior. In most of these cases, those pardoned felt the outcome of their punishment, including prison time.
Biden’s reversal of his no-pardon pledge — just two weeks before his son’s sentencing — ignored the legal standard that no one is above the law; that everyone is treated equally, regardless of his or her position in life.
Unfortunately, Biden’s decision to resist comes at a time when the moral strength of the justice system is fraying.
Bill Ketter is CNHI’s senior vice president for news. Reach him at wketter@cnhi.com.
