UNACCOUNTABLE — It’s the most sweeping presidential pardon since Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, a grant of clemency so broad that even Democrats were openly criticizing the president today. Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter drew criticism from all corners the day after he issued it, underscoring for posterity an unflattering aspect of his presidency: For all Biden’s insistence that the rule of law was of paramount importance and his talk about restoring democracy, in the end he made it much harder for his own party to hold President-elect Donald Trump to account. In the most recent instance, Biden and his aides repeated the same line over and over when it came to Hunter Biden’s legal troubles: He’s not considering a pardon for his son. Even if the charges seemed harsher because Hunter was the president’s son, the president’s commitment to the justice system was such that he’d allow the process to continue.
Now, we’ve learned none of it was true. And it’s created a thorny political problem for the Democrats who are still in Washington and are charged with cleaning up Biden’s mess. Already, Trump has signaled he’ll use Biden’s pardon of his son as justification for his own desire to pardon Jan. 6 rioters. Trump had been largely silent on the Jan. 6 issue since his victory, which had loyalists worrying about his commitment to the pardons. But on Sunday evening, he posted on Truth Social, “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?”
Trump’s statement makes little practical sense — Hunter’s legal situation has nothing to do with the attack on the Capitol. But the Biden administration’s dissembling about whether the president would pardon his own son makes it harder to argue that Trump is unique in his use of pardons to excuse the behavior of his allies. And it undermines the Democratic critique that Trump’s actions “undermine our democracy” and put “his own campaign of revenge and retribution above law and order at every turn.”
Had Biden insisted from the beginning that the investigations against Hunter were politicized endeavors that he might take steps to fix, his ultimate decision might be more defensible. But for years, he used his son’s legal trouble as a way to elevate his bona fides on the issue of the rule of law — the argument went that not even the Justice Department’s actions against those closest to him could shake his belief in the righteousness of the American legal system. That line of reasoning no longer holds any weight, nor will a similar one from future Democratic leaders, given Biden’s last-minute reversal.
“It justifies what Trump wants to do,” Samuel Morison, a lawyer focused on clemency who spent 13 years in the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, told POLITICO today. “Now, he was going to do it anyway. But it gives him some political cover. I think some January 6 pardons are probably coming — at least some, maybe all.” The pardon issue isn’t the only action that let Trump off the hook. When the Justice Department raided Mar-a-Lago in 2022 to collect classified documents that he’d allegedly taken from the White House, the scandal threatened to envelop the former president and angered even his own supporters. But it turned out Biden himself had stashed some classified documents of his own in Delaware from his time as vice president. Biden was eventually cleared of criminal liability, but only after special counsel Robert Hur delivered a report that launched all kinds of other questions about his own fitness for office. When Biden defended himself after Hur’s report, Democrats lined up behind the leader of their party, who at the time was still running for president. But after his blanket pardon of Hunter this weekend and the stain it will leave on his legacy, Democratic lawmakers are suddenly unafraid to sound off against him directly.
“President Biden’s decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) wrote on X today. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) followed, arguing, “This was an improper use of power, it erodes trust in our government, and it emboldens others to bend justice to suit their interests.” Other Democrats empathized with his desire to protect his son from a Trump Justice Department that could seek further retribution. But they were also clear-eyed about the damage he’s done to the business of protecting the nation’s democratic norms. “As a father, I get it,” Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) said. “But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh.
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