On December 1, President Joseph Biden issued a wide-ranging pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, reversing an earlier pledge not to intervene on his son’s behalf. The pardon is in response to two federal cases against the younger Biden that have been ongoing for over six years.
Article II of the US Constitution outlines the powers afforded to and responsibilities expected of the Executive Branch, headed by the President of the United States of America. Although the Constitution is intentionally vague, one of the clear powers that the President has is the ability to issue an “Executive Grant of Clemency,” which can pardon a specific person of any federal crime.
The first case involved some $1.4 million in federal taxes that Hunter Biden declined to pay, for which he pleaded guilty in court this September. The second case against him was lying on a gun ownership application form, for which he was found guilty in June. Both of these cases stem from one of Hunter Biden’s longtime problems: drug and alcohol abuse.
Hunter Biden abused drugs and alcohol throughout his life but has been sober for the past five and a half years. According to his memoir, he believes that this is in large part due to his traumatic childhood. Joe Biden’s first wife was killed in a car crash with their three children, which only Hunter and his brother Beau survived. The situation only got worse when his brother Beau died of cancer in 2015.
The reason Hunter didn’t pay his taxes was that he was spending large amounts of his income on escorts, drugs, cars, and alcohol to fuel his addiction. However, he would later pay back his taxes with interest.
The firearms crime he committed was applying to own a gun as a drug user. Hunter Biden did not disclose that fact when filling out various forms prior to buying the weapon.
The main issue with this case that complicates matters is the politics, not the least of which being that Hunter is the President’s son. Hunter has served on various company boards, two of which are BHR Partners and Burisma Holdings. BHR is a Chinese private equity fund, Burisma a Ukrainian oligarchic holding company fraught with corruption.
President Trump in 2019 pushed hard to prove that there was corruption present between Joe and Hunter Biden. Supposedly, Hunter Biden used his father’s influence to push state department policy that benefited Burisma, including that Hunter received $1.5 billion from BHR.
Although President Biden has long said he would not intervene in the Justice Department’s cases on his son, he finally decided to grant a pardon after Thanksgiving. President Biden cites that this case has been used by Trump-appointed prosecutors and Republican lawmakers to target him. Furthermore, he said that Hunter is facing a far more serious sentence than most people would receive in a similar situation, proving that Hunter is being treated unfairly.
While previous Presidents have pardoned family members, including Bill Clinton’s controversial pardon of his half-brother Roger on his last day in office, the Hunter Biden pardon is unusually wide-ranging and preempts Hunter’s prospective jail time. This sets a precedent for a President to pardon a member of his own family during the proceedings of a federal case. Many outlets and commentators have already criticized Joe Biden’s move for significantly harming faith in the justice system. However, the President hopes that “Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
