There’s an awful lot of speculation and debate, right now, surrounding Joe Biden’s signature on a pardon for his convicted felon son, Hunter Biden. There are a few motives hanging on the grapevine, and they are all credible. Which is the most believable? That depends on whether one thinks the best or the worst of the outgoing chief executive. One thing is for sure: Whether the senior Biden intended to or not, his decision to hand Hunter a sweeping pardon – covering everything the latter may or may not have done over the past 10 years – has set Washington, DC, ablaze.
Was President Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter right or wrong? If one strips away the political partisanship surrounding this pardon and looks at it from a purely legal perspective, it’s not easy to argue that the outgoing president made the wrong call. Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies related to making false statements on a background check form when purchasing a firearm. Would-be gun buyers who provide false or inaccurate information on these forms rarely face criminal charges. Certainly, many of them have never seen the inside of a courtroom for such an offense.
As for Hunter’s conviction for tax evasion, the IRS did get the money when a benefactor ponied up the unpaid amount on the First Son’s behalf. And let’s be realistic – how many Americans wouldn’t applaud any president for pardoning someone convicted for not paying taxes?
Hunter Biden the Political Pawn?
It might well be true, as Biden senior has suggested, that there was always a political angle to prosecutors going after Hunter Biden. This wasn’t a case of people using the legal system to attack political opponents, however. During President-elect Donald Trump’s first White House term, the younger Biden was being investigated, but he wasn’t indicted until well into his father’s presidency. So, the talk of political persecution being bandied about on the left is a stretch.
However, given the timing of the Hunter Biden indictments in relation to Trump’s multiple indictments, one might speculate that the current commander-in-chief’s son was used as a pawn in a political chess match. The pursuit of Trump through multiple courts might be viewed as less partisan and less targeted if the Justice Department also indicted … a Biden. What do you mean two-tier justice system? The president’s own son also is being dragged into court!
Left-Wing Media Haunted by Past Pantomime
More than a few people in the left-wing media were stunned and none too pleased by Biden’s decision. Before he was sidelined by his own party and forced to abandon his re-election campaign, the president asserted that he would not interfere in the legal process and that there would be no pardon for Hunter Biden. That pledge inspired a parade of leftist journalists and pundits to fawn adoringly over their favorite chief executive’s resolve, principles, and willingness to let the justice system prevail even in a case so close to home for him personally. It became a veritable holier-than-thou smug-fest.
Their underlying narrative was obvious. Joe Biden was proving himself ethically and morally superior to Trump, who had dished out a couple of pardons for associates who had been caught up in the now-discredited Russia “collusion” probe. Never mind that Trump’s pardons were narrowly focused on the specific crimes. None of them included a ten-year get-out-of-jail-free-for-any-crime card.
For Mr. Biden’s besotted followers in the world of journalism, though, it all came crashing down when he put pen to pardon. John Harwood found out the hard way. He’s an obsessed anti-Trump leftist who has had a long career in the big-box media, including with The New York Times, CNN, and NBC. Harwood has enthusiastically jumped on every Trump-targeting conspiracy theory there has ever been.
Harwood is currently drowning in ridicule on the X social media platform for a June 2024 post. “People who insist Biden will pardon Hunter after specifically ruling it out are telling on themselves,” the former journalist wrote. “They can’t imagine someone acting on principle and keeping his word.” And now he knows why “they” can’t imagine it. Several left-leaning outlets are now being similarly panned for their attempts to pardon Joe Biden.
Going Out With a Bang
What was the lame duck in the White House really thinking? In all likelihood – and rightly or wrongly – Biden senior is probably saying to himself something along the lines of: My party kicked me to the curb after five decades of loyalty. It replaced me with the worst presidential candidate in history who was humiliated at the ballot box. I remain, and will always be, the only person who defeated Donald Trump. I’m a few weeks from forced retirement. So yes, Jack. No joke. I’m going to pardon my son, and I don’t care who doesn’t like it.
Love Joe Biden or hate him, can one really blame him?
On the right side of the political divide, there is a lot of speculation that the pardon was aimed at permanently crippling any attempts to revisit what so many suspect is a Biden family Burisma-Ukraine-International money-laundering scandal.
All this being said, there cannot be much doubt that the real reason so many of Joe Biden’s allies and supporters are upset by the Hunter Biden pardon is the squandering of some powerful and much-needed political capital. Trump will have four years to issue pardons of his own. Democrats and their media allies are now going to find it very difficult to criticize any pardons the 47th president may sign.
Perhaps the real target of their ire and dismay should be Hunter Biden himself. After all, even if he is now a reformed character – as he often claims – it was his years of shady behavior that led to his father seeding the Democrats’ moral high ground on their favorite refrain of “no one is above the law.”
