Punishment exemption for son – Joe Biden’s fatherly act of mercy causes dismay

As Republicans denounced the hypocrisy of re-elected right-wing populist Donald Trump, Biden’s Democratic Party politicians warned that the paternal act of clemency undermined efforts to prevent Trump from using the Justice Department as a political weapon.

The outgoing president contradicts the announcements
The outgoing president’s statement released Sunday evening appeared to contradict his promise at the start of his 2021 term that he wanted to restore the “integrity and independence” of the judiciary — something Democrats believe was lost during his first term was corrupted by Trump. Above all, Biden had repeatedly stated that he would not do exactly that: pardon his son.

Instead, he now granted “a full and unconditional” pardon covering all of Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes over the past decade – just days before the verdict was to be announced in two trials of his son. Hunter Biden faced long prison sentences for tax evasion and lying about his drug use while buying a gun.

His son’s legal persecution began during Trump’s first term — and there is “no reason to believe it will stop now,” Biden explained.

“It will be used against us”
“I know there was a very strong sentiment to protect Hunter Biden from unjust prosecution,” Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey told CNN. “But that will be used against us in the fight against the abuses of the Trump administration.”

Normally, politicians from both camps pay lip service to the importance of judicial independence and criminal justice, but both Democrats and Republicans attribute political motives to the Justice Department, and presidents from both camps have allies who protect them.

Trump exercised his right to a pardon
At the end of his first term, Trump made extensive use of his right to pardon by bailing out several of his personal allies, including his adviser Roger Stone, his campaign manager Paul Manafort and the father of his son-in-law. , Charles Kushner.

Biden is accused of abuse
Biden now said in justification that he believes in the justice system, but he also believes that “rough politics has tainted this process.” The gun crime, for which Hunter could face up to 25 years in prison, is rarely heard in court. Biden argued that his own Justice Department had been used for political purposes and that Hunter had been singled out “just because he’s my son.”

Biden’s opponents are now accusing the outgoing president of abusing the judiciary. “He leaves office in complete disgrace. He is a liar and there is no way to say it otherwise,” conservative political consultant Scott Jennings, an aide to former Republican President George W. Bush, said on CNN.

Trump found something to eat
The act of mercy is also a bull’s-eye for Trump. During the election campaign, the Republican announced his intention to pardon his supporters convicted of storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He even goes so far as to call his followers, whom he had previously incited, ‘hostages’.

“Does the pardon granted by Joe Hunter also include the January 6 hostages who have been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote on his online service Truth Social. “What an abuse of justice.”

Colorado’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, complained that Biden had put his family before country. “This is a bad precedent that could be abused by future presidents,” Polis wrote on the online service X.

Biden asks for the understanding of his fellow countrymen
But political scientist Nicholas Creel of the State University of Georgia argued that nothing Biden does before leaving office will affect a successor’s actions because Trump “simply doesn’t care about precedent.” “Trump will never need an excuse to do what he wants once he is in power,” he told AFP. To say otherwise would be ‘ridiculous’.

In his statement, the 82-year-old Biden appealed for the understanding of his compatriots: “I hope that Americans will understand why a father and a president came to this decision.”