Biden's pardon of his son Hunter rattles the political world
President Biden’s announcement that he had pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, rattled the political world late Sunday.
The president argued in a statement on Sunday that the charges brought against his son, which included three felony charges on his purchase and possession of a gun in 2018, came about due to political reasons.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong,” Biden said.
Reactions from both sides of the aisle poured in in the wake of the announcement, with Republicans expressing furor over the president’s pardon of his son.
President-elect Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, called Biden’s pardon of his son “an abuse and miscarriage of justice” Sunday.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” the president-elect said, seemingly referring to rioters who have been accused of storming the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack.
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), said in a statement posted to the social platform X on Sunday that the president “has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities.”
“Not only has he falsely claimed that he never met with his son’s foreign business associates and that his son did nothing wrong, but he also lied when he said he would not pardon Hunter Biden,” Comer continued.
During the House GOP impeachment inquiry into the elder Biden, Comer played a central role as the chair of the House Oversight Committee. However, the inquiry struggled to come up with solid evidence that the president’s family committed corrupt conduct and that Biden was engaged in the foreign business dealings of his son.
The House Oversight Committee called the pardon part of a pattern in their own post.
"From the lawfare against President Trump to now the pardoning of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s unprecedented abuse of power has been a stain on the honor of the U.S. presidency," the panel's X account posted.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a member of the Oversight committee, in a post on X threw the president's words back at him, retweeting a post from President Biden that said simply, "No one is above the law." Greene replied: "Come to find out, Hunter is. But who is going to pardon Joe?"
Biden’s post about nobody being “above the law” came on the day of Trump’s conviction in his New York hush money case in late May.
The House Judiciary Committee, which has also investigated the Biden family, cited the president's and White House press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre's insistence that Hunter Biden wouldn't be pardoned, and said in a post, "You've been lied to over and over again."
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, suggested the pardon only proved a need for his panel's impeachment investigation of President Biden.
"Democrats said there was nothing to our impeachment inquiry. If that’s the case, why did Joe Biden just issue Hunter Biden a pardon for the very things we were inquiring about?" Jordan posted.
Republicans in the upper chamber also expressed displeasure with the president’s move to pardon his son.
“I’m shocked Pres Biden pardoned his son Hunter bc he said many many times he wouldn’t & I believed him Shame on me,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a post on X.
Responding to a post by Fox News on X about the pardon, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), said “that under Democrat governance, there truly is a dual system of justice.”
“One that protects Democrats and another weaponized against their political opponents,” he added.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served under former President Obama, also weighed in on Hunter Biden’s case and the pardon, saying on X that “No [U.S. attorney] would have charged this case given the underlying facts.”
“After a 5 year investigation the facts as discovered only made that clear. Had his name been Joe Smith the resolution would have been - fundamentally and more fairly - a declination. Pardon warranted,” he added.
Some Democrats, however, were not happy with the president’s pardoning of his son.
“While as a father I certainly understand President @JoeBiden ’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said on X. “This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation.”
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) disagreed with the president's action.
"I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong. This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers," he posted on social media.
The Hill has reached out to the White House and the Justice Department for comment.
Katie Wadington contributed reporting.
Updated at 10:17 pm EST.