The Politics Behind the Biden Pardon: Look out for your own

Predicting 2022: When President Biden is ready to pardon 2022 criminals and convicted criminals who aren’t under federal law and D.C. statute

“President Biden has until January 20 to provide clemency for thousands of individuals who are appropriate clemency candidates who are sitting in federal prison right now,” Eisen says. “So there’s plenty of time.”

While Biden’s most recent — and most personal — pardon is in the spotlight, Eisen hopes he will take this opportunity to afford the same grace to many others who are already serving what she calls excessive sentences.

More than 60 members of Congress sent a letter to Biden last month asking him to use his authority to help broad groups of people, such as the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers.

The Brennan Center, a law and policy organization, is one of several organizations urging the president to commute all death sentences.

There is a lot more Biden can do before he ends his term, including addressing the many thousands of petitions for clemency pending before him.

In 2022, he took executive action to pardon the more than 6,500 people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal law and D.C. statute, which he expanded last year. Earlier this year, he issued a blanket pardon to LGBTQ+ service members removed from the military over their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Kushner served about two years in prison before his release in 2006, and Trump cited his philanthropic record “of reform and charity” when pardoning him in 2020. Over the weekend, Trump announced he intends to nominate Charles Kushner to serve as ambassador to France.

Charles Kushner, himself a real estate billionaire, pleaded guilty in 2004 to filing false tax returns, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against a witness: his own brother-in-law.

He had previously pardoned many other members of his inner circle who had been charged with various crimes, including Republican operative Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner — the father of his senior advisor, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

He got much more flack for pardoning Marc Rich, a disgraced financier who had fled to Switzerland after being indicted for evading more than $48 million in taxes, among other charges. Rich’s ex-wife Denise had donated over $1 million to Democrats and Clinton’s presidential library, raising questions and a Justice Department investigation into the pardon, which ultimately found no wrongdoing by Clinton.

On his last day in office in 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger, who had pleaded guilty and spent a year in jail on drug charges.

The White House Historical Association says that over 3000 acts of clemency were granted between the start of Ronald Reagan and the end of Barack Obama.

After he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for speaking out against World War II, Warren Harding pardoned Eugene Debs.

The president can grant pardons for Offences against the United States except in cases of impeachment.

“The U.S. Constitution grants the president of the United States what’s called unilateral clemency power,” explains Lauren-Brooke Eisen, the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Justice Program. “Clemency is an umbrella term.”

Trump was quick to slam Biden’s pardon as an abuse and a violation of the law. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Arizona Rep. Greg Stanton, and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet were the only Democrats to publicly criticize Biden. It’s possible it could set a dangerous precedent before the return of Trump, who vowed to pardon January 6 rioters.

For one, his rationale closely echoes Donald Trump’s claims of a politicized Justice Department — even though the charges against Hunter Biden and Trump, the first president to be convicted of a felony, are very different. Trump was charged with trying to overturn the 2020 election and endangering national security through his handling of classified documents, though both cases were dismissed after his 2024 election victory.

“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden added. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

In his statement, Biden said, “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.”

Biden blamed his opponents in Congress for instigating the charges against Hunter and unraveling his would-be plea deal through political pressure, though the special counsel leading the firearm probe has denied facing political interference.

Damned Hunter Biden – He shouldn’t have regarded his Son in office because of his legitimate powers as a president

The president said in an announcement on Sunday that he would not pardon his son but reversed his statement the previous day because he said the prosecution was unfair.

Hunter Biden was convicted earlier this year of federal gun charges for lying about his addiction to crack cocaine when he purchased a gun, and separately pleaded guilty to tax offenses for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. Both cases were to be handed down later this month.

It is not an excuse for breaking the law for an addicted person, as 12-step programs show, so Hunter Biden should be held accountable for his actions. It seems like you think Biden shouldn’t have regarded his son in office because of his legitimate powers as president.