 "What is a presidential pardon that Joe Biden has granted to son Hunter?")
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.
“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 – and that is wrong.
“For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: 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 – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
On Sunday (December 1), US President Joe Biden in one of his final actions before departing the White House — his successor, Donald Trump will take over on January 20 — did what he promised he wouldn’t do: grant his son, Hunter Biden a pardon . Hunter faced sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions.
Biden’s pardon to his son has invited criticism from Trump and other Republican Party members and also put a fresh spotlight on this special power granted to the US president.
Let’s take a closer look at it and understand how it works.
What’s a presidential pardon?
As the word suggests, a presidential pardon is the power given to a president to pardon or commute sentences related to federal crimes.
The US president is vested with this power by Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution, which says the president “shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment”.
Explaining why such a power was granted, Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, wrote in The Federalist Papers that presidential pardons were the last recourse for justice. “Otherwise, justice would wear a countenance too sanguinary and cruel.”
How powerful is a presidential pardon?
A presidential pardon is all-powerful and can be granted to any person. However, the US Constitution does state that a presidential pardon can’t be used to save himself or any other official from impeachment. Moreover, a presidential pardon can only be used for federal crimes — not state crimes. For state crimes, only the US governor can do so.
The US presidential pardon can’t be overturned by courts or by Congress. It also can’t be reversed by the next president, which means that Donald Trump can’t rescind Biden’s pardon to Hunter.
The US Constitution doesn’t mention how many times a president can use this power. Records show that US President Franklin D Roosevelt used this power a whopping 2,819 times while he was in the White House from 1933 to 1945.
Can a president self-pardon?
The answer to this question is a bit tricky, as no US president has ever tried self-pardoning himself. However, the idea has been around since Richard Nixon’s presidency. A memo from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel held the position that a president could not self-pardon. “Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, it would seem that the question should be answered in the negative.”
Even constitutional scholars believe that a self-pardon doesn’t exist in the US. They argue that the Constitution says that the president has the power to “grant” pardons — and a grant is something given to someone else.
Which was the first US presidential pardon?
The first US presidential pardon was granted by the US’ first President George Washington when he granted clemency to John Mitchell and Philip Weigel, who had been sentenced to death in 1795 for their role in the Whiskey Rebellion.
On July 10, 1795, Washington granted them the first presidential pardon, expressing his belief that the new American government ought to exercise “every degree of moderation and tenderness which the national justice, dignity, and safety may permit.”
Have there been controversial presidential pardons?
The short answer is yes. Biden’s pardon to his son, Hunter, joins other instances when pardons were questioned.
Perhaps, one of the most controversial was in 1974 when newly sworn-in President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon “for all offences against the United States.” This came shortly after Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, but was still likely to face prosecution for obstruction of justice and other charges.
However, Ford granted him “a full, free, and absolute pardon” for crimes he “committed or may have committed”, saying it would help the country to move on. According to a national survey by Opinion Research Corporation conducted at the time, Americans disapproved of it by 59 per cent to 26 per cent.
Former US President George HW Bush was also criticised for pardoning Ronald Reagan’s Defence Secretary Caspar Weinberger, indicted for perjury in the Iran-Contra scandal, along with five other defendants.
Ex-President Bill Clinton also raised eyebrows when pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton in 2001, after he had completed a prison term for drug charges.
In his final weeks in office, Donald Trump also received flak for pardoning Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He also pardoned former advisors Stephen Bannon — for fraud — and Roger Stone — over his involvement in election interference during the 2016 campaign.
What are the crimes that Hunter Biden has been pardoned for?
US President Joe Biden’s pardon to Hunter comes after the 54-year-old was convicted in June of lying on a federal form when he purchased a gun in 2018 and swore that he wasn’t a drug user. He also pleaded guilty to charges of evading tax worth $1.4 million. In that matter, prosecutors alleged that he lived lavishly while flouting the tax law, spending his cash on things like strippers and luxury hotels — “in short, everything but his taxes.”
At that time, US President Joe Biden had vowed he wouldn’t interfere in the matter and would not pardon his son. “I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know,” he then said. “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
However, it seems that US President Biden had a change of heart and changed his vow.
With inputs from agencies
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