This is an adapted excerpt from the December 2 episode of “The Beat with Ari Melber.”
When President Joe Biden took office in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the United States Capitol, he pledged to restore and respect the rule of law. After Hunter Biden ran into legal trouble and was ultimately convicted in a case brought by a special counsel appointed by Biden’s own attorney general, the president kept his promise, repeatedly promising not to pardon his son .
But on Sunday, Biden broke that vow and granted Hunter Biden a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed since January 1, 2014. The move will save Biden’s son some time in jail and isolate him from further actions by law enforcement. incoming Trump administration.
In a statement, the president said Hunter Biden was being prosecuted “selectively” and “unfairly.” “By breaking Hunter, they tried to break me too, and there’s no reason to think it will stop here. Enough is enough,” Biden further wrote.
The president’s decision bluntly breaks his vow and comes amid intense scrutiny over how justice is served in the United States. Initial reaction ranged from criticizing Biden’s reversal, with Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat, calling it a “bad precedent” that will “unfortunately tarnish his reputation,” to others, including legal experts, calling it noticed strange path that led to Hunter Biden’s attack. conviction.
Sunday’s pardon clouds the very principles that Biden and his party claimed were so fundamental to the contrast between Democrats and Donald Trump this election. While there is evidence that the treatment of Hunter Biden has been unfair and arguably overly harsh, so have many other cases — cases where individuals are denied leniency because they lack political or elite connections.
That’s the deeper problem here. If being unfairly singled out is grounds for a pardon, then thousands of lower-income and minority Americans could benefit from the same leniency that was applied to the president’s son. And if prison seems like a harsh punishment for Hunter Biden’s addiction problems, it’s worth noting that about 20% of the nation’s prison population is serving time for drug-related crimes.
During his time in office, Biden has issued 26 pardons. While more could come in the final days of his presidency, so far this is not an administration that has used the same logic used in Hunter Biden’s condemnation of other Americans who say they have been unfairly targeted by the legal system.
Although Democrats have taken more of a lead on criminal justice reform than Republicans, both parties have pursued harsh and punitive policies. And now both parties have had presidents who used the pardon power for personal reasons. These are just facts.
Now the facts do not ensure total numerical equivalence. Biden’s family pardon is his first and most important use of power for self-interest. Trump, by contrast, has pardoned members of his family and a slew of aides who often kept his secrets, so the pardons likely helped Trump avoid a full legal reckoning.
So while the math isn’t the same, the principle itself is a problem — especially in a legal system that, as we’ve reported on “The Beat” for years, works differently for the wealthy and connected than it does for everyone else.
Allison Detzel contributed.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
