Joe Biden has acted as a father rather than as a president in pardoning his son, Hunter, and in the process handed a political gift to Donald Trump.
The move is another reminder that justice in America is politicised, but there can be no denying it is a terrible look for Biden, who took aim at Trump as a convicted felon during their debate this year.
Biden’s intervention deals a major blow to any Democratic warnings about an attempt by Trump to politicise the Department of Justice – exposing the President as a person willing to interfere in the system to protect those close to him.
This is the pot calling the kettle black, with Biden now undermining a key theme of the Democratic campaign to frame Trump’s second term.
The decision will energise Republicans, fuel outrage at Democrat hypocrisy, embolden those clamouring for a purge of the deep state, elevate claims that Hunter Biden is above the law, and heighten cynicism and distrust of the US justice system.
Biden has thrown red meat into the lion pit.
After repeatedly saying he would not pardon Hunter or commute his sentence, the President will also face accusations he was lying all along and tar him as the key participant in efforts to help his son avoid accountability.
The pardon saved Hunter from jail after he was convicted on felony gun charges in Delaware and pleaded guilty to felony tax charges in California. In its wording, the pardon provides a broad shield for Hunter for any offences committed from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024.
While solving his current legal predicament, the pardon extends Hunter future protection against any other federal cases brought against him during the 10-year window. This is deliberate.
Hunter’s activities and business dealings were a hot political issue and a key focus of GOP probes – including by the House Oversight Committee led by Republican James Comer.
Responding to the news, Comer said the charges Hunter faced were “just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption the President and the Biden crime family have lied about to the American people”.
Trump also went on the attack, suggesting that participants in the January 6, 2021 march on the Capitol Building should be freed. “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” he said. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice!”
In issuing the pardon, Biden tried to make the case that “Hunter was treated differently”.
“I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” he said. “Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong.
“People are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form … Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions.”
This is Biden as an aggrieved father, critiquing the state of justice in America. While there may be truth to his arguments, the optics work against Biden. And he knows it.
The giveaway was in the final line of his statement: “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
This was a personal decision – one made as a parent. As a politician, Biden knows the power to grant pardons should not be used to shield the president’s own family members.
However serious the problems with the US justice system, this decision is only likely to deepen them.
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