President Joe Biden performed his 27th pardon on his son, Hunter Biden, on December 1, 2024. While pardons by presidents aren’t rare, President Obama performing 1927 and President Trump 236, Biden had promised not to pardon his son and trust in the judicial system to give an appropriate punishment.
Hunter Biden has been charged with two federal crimes, with a combined total of up to 42 years in prison. In June, Hunter Biden was found to have lied three times on the drug test to purchase a handgun. He was found guilty by the Delaware jury, and the total time in prison was up to 25 years. Later in September, Hunter Biden was found to have performed 9 total failings to file taxes, tax evasion, and false tax returns in 2016-2019. This charge is less serious, only giving 17 years in prison, but combined Hunter Biden could have faced over 40 years.
On December 1 however, President Joe Biden performed a presidential pardon, which pardoned Hunter Biden of all crimes committed in the last 10 years. The president stated, “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.” Joe Biden was worried about politics interfering with his son’s case, and so took matters into his own hands.
This pardon has created lots of controversy, the pardon coming weeks after the election and going against the president’s previous words. An anonymous source stated: “It’s not right, but it makes sense because it’s his son. It is not right because it isn’t just or trustworthy, and his son will keep doing bad things without punishment.” Another concern brought up was the unusually long pardon date, spanning 10 years instead of the required 8. All presidential pardons are also worded to clear any crimes the person “has committed or may have committed”. This recent pardon has created much discourse and uncertainty in both parties.
