Pardon for son

Joe Biden’s paternal act of mercy causes displeasure

Joe Biden with his son Hunter on a shopping trip in Nantucket, Massachusetts at the end of November.

(Bild: picturedesk.com/MANDEL NGAN / AFP / picturedesk.com)

A few weeks before the end of his term in office in the White House, Joe Biden made a decision that was also guided by his fatherly feelings: he pardoned his 54-year-old son Hunter, who was facing long prison sentences in two trials. The official act immediately caused fierce controversy.

While the Republicans of re-elected right-wing populist Donald Trump denounced hypocrisy, politicians from Biden's Democratic Party warned that the paternal act of clemency undermined efforts to prevent Trump from misusing the Department of Justice as a political weapon.

Outgoing president contradicts announcements
The outgoing president's statement released on Sunday evening appeared to contradict his promise at the start of his 2021 term that he would restore the "integrity and independence" of the judiciary - which Democrats believe was corrupted by Trump in his first term. Above all, however, Biden had repeatedly stated that he would not do exactly that: pardon his son.

Joe and Hunter Biden

(Bild: AFP/Mandel NGAN)

Instead, however, he has now granted a "full and unconditional" pardon that covers all of Hunter Biden's alleged offenses over the past decade - just a few days before the sentence was to be announced in two trials against his son. Hunter Biden was facing long prison sentences for tax evasion and for lying about his drug use when buying a gun.

The legal persecution of his son had begun during Trump's first term of office - and there was "no reason to believe it will stop now", Biden explained.

"It will be used against us"
"I know there was a very strong sentiment to protect Hunter Biden from unjust prosecution," Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey told CNN. "But that will be used against us as we fight the abuses that are coming from the Trump administration."

Generally, politicians from both camps pay lip service to the importance of the independence of the judiciary and the penal system, but both Democrats and Republicans have political motives at the Department of Justice and presidents from both camps have allies protecting them.

Trump exercised his right to pardon
Trump made extensive use of his right to pardon at the end of his first term in office, saving some of his personal allies from prison, including his adviser Roger Stone, his campaign manager Paul Manafort and the father of his son-in-law, Charles Kushner.

Biden is accused of abuse
Biden now said in justification that he believed in the justice system, but he also believed "that rough politics has infected this process". The weapons offense, for which Hunter faced up to 25 years in prison, is rarely heard in a trial. Biden argued that his own Justice Department had been abused for political purposes and that Hunter had been singled out "just because he's my son".

Biden's opponents are now accusing the outgoing president of abusing the justice system. "He is leaving office in utter disgrace. He's a liar, and there's no other way to portray it," said conservative political consultant Scott Jennings, an associate of former Republican President George W. Bush, on CNN.

A feast for Trump's eyes
The act of clemency is also a feast for Trump. During the election campaign, the Republican had announced his intention to pardon his supporters convicted of storming the Capitol on 6 January 2021. He went so far as to refer to his supporters, whom he had previously incited, as "hostages".

"Does the pardon granted to Joe Hunter include the January 6th hostages who were imprisoned for years?" Trump wrote on his online service Truth Social. "What an abuse of justice."

The Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, complained that Biden had put his family before the country. "This is a bad precedent that could be abused by future presidents," Polis wrote in the online service X.

Biden asks for understanding from his fellow countrymen
Political scientist Nicholas Creel from the State University in Georgia, on the other hand, argued that nothing Biden does before leaving office will influence the actions of a successor - as Trump "simply doesn't care about precedent". "Trump will never need an excuse to do what he wants once he's in office," he told the AFP news agency. To say otherwise was "ridiculous".

In his statement, the 82-year-old Biden appealed for the understanding of his fellow countrymen: "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president has come to this decision."