ATLANTA (AP) — Already reeling from their November defeats, Democrats are now grappling with President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son for federal crimes after the party for years cast Donald Trump as a threat to law-making democracy ignored.
The president pardoned Hunter Biden late Sunday night, reversing his previous promises with a pardon that covers more than a decade of any federal crimes his son may have committed. The 82-year-old president said in a statement that his son’s prosecution on charges of tax evasion and forging a federal gun purchase form was politically motivated.
That explanation did not satisfy some Democrats, who were angry that Biden’s reversal could make it harder to take on Trump, who has argued that multiple charges and one conviction against him were a matter of Biden and the Democrats who turned the legal system against him.
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“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by subsequent presidents and will unfortunately tarnish his reputation,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis wrote about Biden on the social media platform X.
“When you become president, your role is Paterfamilias of the nation,” the governor continued, a reference to the president who invoked paternity in explaining his decision. “Hunter has taken the legal troubles he faced on himself, and you can sympathize with his struggle while also recognizing that no one is above the law, not a president and not the son of a president.”
Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., said on X: “This was not a politically motivated prosecution. Hunter committed crimes and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”
To be sure, the president has plenty of Democratic defenders taking note of Trump’s use of presidential powers to pardon a slew of his convicted aides, associates and friends, including some for activities related to the campaign and administration of Trump.
“Trump has pardoned Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, as well as the father of his son-in-law, Charles Kushner – whom he just appointed as US ambassador to France,” wrote prominent Democratic fundraiser Jon Cooper on X.
“Sorry, but Biden was right to pardon his son Hunter to protect him from Kash Patel’s gun-toting FBI,” Cooper concluded, referring to Trump’s apparent plan to oust FBI Director Christopher Wray in favor of a loyalist who has spoken of pursuing political opponents and journalists.
Democrats already face the prospects of a Republican trifecta in Washington, with voters returning Trump to the White House and giving Republican control of the House and Senate. Part of their argument against Trump and Republican leaders is expected to be that the president-elect is violating norms with his talk of retaliating against his enemies.
Before Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, he faced his own legal troubles, including two cases stemming from his efforts to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. These cases, including Trump’s sentencing after he was convicted of corporate fraud by New York state, have been dismissed or postponed indefinitely since Trump’s victory on November 5, forcing Democrats to recalibrate their approach to the newly elected president to vote.
In June, President Biden firmly ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling 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.”
As recently as November 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying: “We’ve been asked that question several times. Our answer remains: no.”
The president’s about-face came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his sentence following his conviction in the gun case and his guilty plea on tax charges. It capped a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who revealed in December 2020 that he was under federal investigation — a month after his father’s 2020 victory.
The far-reaching pardon applies not only to the weapons and tax crimes against the younger Biden, but also to all other ‘crimes against the United States that he has committed or may have committed or in which he participated in the period from January 1, 2014 to and December 1. , 2024.”
Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs . He was scheduled to go on trial in September in a California case in which he was accused of paying at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and misdemeanor charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.
In his statement on Sunday, the president argued that such crimes are generally not prosecuted with the same vigor as against Hunter Biden.
“The charges in his cases came only after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said in his statement. “No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases could come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out solely because he is my son. … I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
