President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, just weeks before he leaves the White House and despite previously promising not to do so.
Biden said in a statement announcing the pardon that his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” and that his political opponents had undertaken an “effort to break Hunter,” suggesting that the Justice Department under a second Trump administration would continue to go after him. Hunter Biden was convicted in two separate federal cases involving handgun and tax-related charges and was awaiting sentencing.
The “full and unconditional pardon” covers an 11-year period ending on December 1 and is “not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted.”
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden said in the statement.
Republicans, unsurprisingly, have criticized the decision, but so, too, have some of Biden’s fellow Democrats. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) called the pardon a decision to “put personal interest ahead of duty” that “further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all,” and Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said it was “a setback” for those who want to “believe in public service again.”
Here’s what you need to know about Hunter Biden, the president’s pardon powers, and what this precedent could mean for Donald Trump.
Who is Hunter Biden, and what did he do?
Hunter Biden, 54, is the president’s only living son and the only family member of a sitting president to be convicted of federal crimes.
In June, a Delaware jury convicted him on three charges related to misrepresenting his illegal drug use on a form he submitted while purchasing a handgun in 2018, when he was addicted to drugs. He had initially struck a plea deal with prosecutors that later fell apart, and instead, they brought the gun charges to trial — a rare occurrence.
In September, Biden also pled guilty to nine charges related to underpaying taxes between 2016 and 2019, including filing a false tax return and tax evasion. He would have faced up to 25 years in prison for the gun conviction and 17 years for the tax conviction, though likely would have only been sentenced for a fraction of that time, totaling under five years.
Neither case involved longstanding probes into Biden’s business dealings, which Republicans have attempted to link to his father. But it’s possible further charges could have been brought against him had he not been pardoned.
What is a presidential pardon?
Under the Constitution, the president has the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons.” A full pardon reverses a past criminal conviction (or, in Hunter Biden’s case, all of them within a certain span of time, as well as the possibility of facing legal jeopardy for as-of-yet-unprosecuted crimes) and its consequences, including restoring the right to vote, hold office, and sit on a jury, if lost as a consequence of the conviction. Presidents can also grant clemency to those convicted of federal crimes, reducing their sentences while leaving convictions in place. This authority, however, is not limitless.
Though the president can grant an unlimited number of pardons, they can only do so for federal criminal offenses, not state crimes or civil liability. There are also other restrictions on the president’s pardon powers: Federal courts have found that pardons must advance “public welfare”; they cannot be used to infringe on constitutional rights, to obstruct justice, or as bribes; and they must not interfere with the president’s duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” by encouraging future lawbreaking.
Have presidents pardoned their family before?
Presidents have pardoned members of their family before, though it’s relatively uncommon. Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, who pleaded guilty to drug charges in 1985. Trump pardoned his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, who he recently appointed as the US ambassador to France.
Trump also pardoned dozens of people shortly before leaving office in his first term who later went on to endorse him or financially support his 2024 campaign, including his former White House chief strategist Steven Bannon, former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his former campaign chair Paul Manafort, and his former political consultant Roger Stone.
In 1974, Gerald Ford notably pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, after the Watergate scandal, a decision he attributed to the need to allow the country to move past the scandal.
But Biden’s controversial decision to pardon his son may pave the way for future presidents — Trump included — to abuse their pardon powers. Biden’s pardon is incredibly broad, covering over a decade in which his son could have potentially committed crimes that have not even been charged yet, and in that sense, is unprecedented. Typically, presidents pardon specific crimes or any crimes related to a particular event. This one amounts to blanket amnesty.
Will Trump pardon anyone when he takes office?
Trump has previously claimed he has an “absolute right” to pardon himself, a statement that has divided legal scholars. It’s unclear if he will test that theory, however; while he has 34 felony convictions to his name for falsifying business records, those lie outside his pardon power in New York state court. He also faces multiple federal criminal investigations, but following Trump’s reelection, Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Justice Department said they would drop cases against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The conservative majority on the Supreme Court has suggested it might side with Trump if he pardons himself. In a ruling earlier this year, it found that presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts under their “exclusive sphere of constitutional authority.”
Trump has also suggested he would pardon those behind the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. More than 1,000 people have been convicted for their involvement, including on charges of seditious conspiracy and assaulting law enforcement officers, and hundreds of cases are still pending. Trump has previously, baselessly, called them “hostages” and said he would be “inclined to pardon many of them.”
Past presidents have pardoned insurrectionists before, but not recently. Previous cases include during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion and the Philippine-American War at the turn of the 20th century, but in those cases, the pardons were seen as an opportunity to quell further unrest. Potential Trump pardons for January 6 insurrectionists could have the opposite effect; by allowing his supporters to escape consequences for committing politically motivated violence, it could encourage further such violence on his behalf.
Could the pardon power be reformed?
Some Democrats have raised the possibility of putting guardrails on the president’s pardon power to prevent future abuses in the wake of Biden’s decision. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) indicated Monday that he would support reforms: “At the very least, we’ve got to circumscribe it so that you don’t get to pardon relatives, even if you believe passionately that they’re innocent or their cause is just,” he said on CNN.
Other Democrats have previously suggested that not only a president’s family members, but members of their administrations or campaign staff and anyone who commits a crime to further the president’s personal interests should not be eligible for a pardon. Though that might already be beyond the scope of the president’s pardon powers, making that prohibition explicit would help prevent abuse, especially since courts may be reluctant to intervene.
However, such reforms would require a constitutional amendment. Two-thirds of both chambers of Congress would have to approve it, which seems unlikely at such a moment of political polarization.
How could Biden still use his pardon powers?
With nearly two months left in office, Biden may still issue further pardons. It’s traditional for presidents to issue grants of executive clemency before leaving office, and advocates have urged Biden to do so in a number of cases. Perhaps most prominently, Biden still has time to grant clemency to the 40 men currently on federal death row, who otherwise would face the possibility of execution under a second Trump administration.
He could also use the power to alleviate the harms of mass incarceration, as dozens of lawmakers have recently urged him. Specifically, they asked Biden to help “elderly and chronically ill,” “people with unjustified sentencing disparities,” and “women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers” who are currently in prison, including many who do not pose a public safety threat and who have been separated from their families.
Biden has granted 25 pardons and 132 commutations of sentences during his time in office, according to Department of Justice data. That puts him behind other recent Democratic presidents, including former President Barack Obama, who issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. However, Obama issued hundreds of clemency actions on his last day in office, and Biden could do the same — on Monday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that more pardons will be forthcoming.
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