An opinion on a flawed pardon
The Patience of His Son, Hunter, During the First Two Years of President Biden’s Abuse of the Pardon Power, Amenable to the Defense of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act
More obnoxious is the hypocrisy. Every year, federal prosecutors file hundreds of cases against persons charged with lying on the Firearms Transaction Record, or Form 4473, which is required from anyone buying a firearm from a licensed gun dealer. In 1993, Senator Biden made that part of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. Where is the reason that the same president who has made stricter tax enforcement key parts of his political message suddenly sees his own son as a nuisance?
Hunter was due to be sentenced in both cases later this month, which undoubtedly served to precipitate his father’s action. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, he was probably facing at least a couple of years in prison. The son had a clean record because of the pardon from his father, and it wiped out any chance of being charged in the first place. The pardon goes further. It is “not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted” and encompasses the period when the younger Mr. Biden joined the board of Burisma.
The first Trump years of indecency and corruption have defined Mr. Biden’s presidency. The pardon of the Bidens made Mr. Biden the second president to be added to the roll call of presidents who had abused the pardon power. Mr. Biden was able to change his mind about the pardon because he knew how wrong it was.
Mr Biden dropped out of the presidential race in late July. In September, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to a tax crime. VP Harris lost the election to Mr. Trump. And Mr. Biden, now an 82-year-old lame-duck, single-term president, had been following the news, watching as Mr. Trump vowed to stock his administration with a vengeful cast of characters who would use the judicial system to punish political opponents.
At that point Mr. Biden realized he might not be able to issue a pardon in order to get his son out of jail. It appears that there was never serious consideration of anything short of a full pardon, such as a commutation of his sentence, they said.
Presidents do not need to issue a single one, nor are they limited in the number or to whom they issue them. In this way, they reveal their roots in the royal prerogative of mercy. There is only one reason presidents, or kings, issue pardons: because they want to.
