Below is my column in Fox.com on President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter of not just his convicted crimes but any crimes that he may have chosen to commit. President Biden has set a standard that is not merely a new low but positively subterraneous for future presidents.
Here is the column:
President Joe Biden’s decision to use his presidential powers to pardon his own son will be a decision that lives in infamy in presidential politics. It is not just that the President used his constitutional powers to benefit his family. It is because the action culminates years of lying to the public about his knowledge and intentions in the influence-peddling scandal surrounding his family. Even among past scandals in the abuse of the pardon power, Biden has done lasting damage not just to his legacy but his office.
Despite its noble origins and purpose, the pardon power historically has not been a pristine power used by past presidents. As I have previously written, it was used to benefit the political cronies of past presidents. President Warren Harding was even accused of selling pardons, including to mob enforcer Ignacio Lupo, known as “Lupo the Wolf.” Former president William Clinton waited for the final days of his presidency to pardon his own brother as well as a major democratic donor.
In 2023, I wrote that Biden might follow this same pattern and pardon his son as a lame-duck president. The column suggested that Biden might withdraw as a candidate for office and then take the action as a father: “The pardon-and-apology approach might appeal to Biden not only as an effort to convert vice into virtue but to justify his withdrawal from the election as a selfless act.”
In the 2020 election and throughout his presidential term, Biden repeatedly lied to the American public with an ease and impunity that shocked even many political veterans in Washington. He was repeatedly asked if he knew about Hunter’s foreign dealings, including millions in alleged deals with Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, and other clients. President Biden lied and denied such knowledge. As I detailed in my testimony in the Biden impeachment hearing, he had repeated discussions of these dealings. He is even on tape discussing news stories on the dealings.
President Biden was also repeatedly asked if he met any of his son’s clients. He repeatedly lied. We have pictures and records of dinners and meetings with these clients. Hunter Biden was expressly thanked for his arranging such access to his father.
Few reporters pressed Biden on the corruption scandal, but they were often met not only with denials but angry retorts from the president. When Fox reporter Peter Doocy raised it, the President steamed “Yes, yes, yes. God love you, man — you’re a one-horse pony, I tell you.”
When CBS’s Bo Erickson broke ranks and raised the scandal and drew a rebuke from Biden “I know you’d ask it. I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask.”
The President continued to lie throughout the election, the presidential debates, and his term.
Then, the press repeatedly asked him whether he would pardon his son. The President was now running for reelection and again lied. He and the White House said over and over again that no such pardon would occur and was not being contemplated. That was also a lie. NBC is reporting that, while issuing these denials last June, there were discussions about the pardon.
The pardon power was written in absolute terms, and a president can even, in my view, pardon himself. However, what is constitutional is not necessarily ethical or right. This is one of the most disgraceful pardons even in the checkered history of presidential pardons. President Biden has lied to cover up a corruption scandal that reportedly brought his family millions in raw influence peddling. His portrayal of his son as a victim stands in sharp contrast to the sense of immunity and power conveyed by Hunter in his dealings.
There were diamonds as gifts, lavish expense accounts, and a sports car, in addition to massive payments that Hunter claimed were “loans.” There are messages where Hunter belies the President’s portrayal of a political witch hunt, including messages like the one to a Chinese businessman openly threatening the displeasure of Joe Biden if money is not sent to them immediately. In the WhatsApp message, Hunter stated:
“I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the Chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
The President has now pardoned Hunter for his convicted felonies and any crimes he may have committed from “Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.”
It is all now being buried under a sweeping immunity deal and a pack of presidential lies.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Liar in Chief: Peace on Earth & Good Will Towards Man
Hunter is going to get some presents from Santa on Xmas:
> A new laptop
> A 44 Magnum
> A crack pipe
What does the gun purchase/possession FBI NICS background check guidelines say about being a convicted felon – but a convicted felon who then got a presidential pardon?
The next shoe-to-drop will be the New Year pardons for the rest of the Biden Crime Family including brother Jim and all the family members that received funding through the money laundering schemes from all the “inflows” because Joey has to complete the circle of trust to ensure silence within the La Cosa Biden-Nostra! Shameful but okay – no crying when the en-mass J6 pardons are issued!!!! Get ready for the faux Dem outrage!
I think this Pardon says it all, Every Biden is Illicitly Complicit & Corrupt,
Joe Biden can’t pardon the personality disorders his Son inherited from Him,
Hunter will be Hunter to his end, Like Father Like Son | Like Son like Father.
There are no Pardons in the Streets.
Nor are there for the rest of these:
Adam Schiff | Alexander Downer | Alexander Vindman | Alvin Bragg
Andrew McCabe | Andrew Weissmann | Andrew Whitney | Azra Turk
Barack Obama | Bill Priestap | Bill Taylor | Bruce Ohr
Charles H | Dolan | Christopher Steele | Christopher Wray
Cody Shear | Dana Remus | Daniel Goldman | Don Berlin
Donna Brazile | E.W. Priestap | Eirc Holder | Emmet Sullivan
Eric Ciaramella | Eugene Vindman | Evelyn Farkas | Fani Willis
Fiona Hill | Gen. Milley | George Soros | Gina Haspel
Glenn Simpson | Gov. Janet Mills | Hillary Clinton | Huma Abedin
Hunter Biden | Igor Danchenko | Jake Sullivan | James Baker
James Clapper | James Comey | James E | Boasberg
Jeff Sessions | Jerry Nadler | Joe Biden | John Bolton
John Brennan | John Kerry | John McCabe | John McCain
John Podesta | Joseph Mifsud | Juan Merchan et al | Judge Arthur Engoron
Kadzic | Kathy Ruemmler | Kevin Clinesmith | Kurt Campbell
L. Jean Camp | Laycock | Lerner | Letitia James
Lisa O. Monaco | Lisa Page | Lois Lerner | Loretta Lynch
Marc Elias | Matthew Colangelo | Merrick Garland | Michael Cohen
Michael Kortan | Michael Sussmann | Nancy Pelosi | Nellie Ohr
Paul Vixie | Perkins Coie et.al. | Peter Fritsch | Peter Strzok
Power | Richard Dearlove | Richard Schiff | Robby Mook
Rod Rosenstein | Rodney Joffe | Ron Klain | Sally Yates
Stefan Halper | Stormy Daniels | Strobe Talbot | Susan E. Rice
The Mueller-Team | Tom Rice | Valerie Jarrett | Victoria Nuland
The Democratic Party (Circa 2026-Present) …
* The pardon convicts all democrats. The rats will jump ship.
Culminating outrage of the Obama legacy.
I blame each and every democrat voter (whether naive or willfully ignorant) for allowing these reptilian types – and that includes the likes of schumer, Pelosi and the rest – of ever having the reins of power when their true nature was so discernable from the start. I wonder if even Trump, followed by a decade or more of swamp cleaning, can save us. We have allowed a corrupt media/education industry to facilitate the near destruction of our moral core.
Thanks Biden. You just opened the door for Trump to issue pardons for J6 and pro-life protesters.
By the way Biden will need to hand out family pardons. Hunter will has lost his 5th Amendment right not to testify.
Dear Prof Turley,
Notwithstanding the original noble intentions bestowed upon the power of presidential pardons, I am not at all clear a president has the power to pardon anyone for crimes they “may” have committed [between Jan. 1, 2014 and Dec. 1, 2024.]
*the one true God rests in reason .. . I’m not sure what S/He is doing the rest of the time.
Biden, aka “the Slug at 1600,” has cemented his place as the unchallenged WORST chief executive to have sullied the halls of the White House since the founding of the Republic…, bar none…, and that includes Buchanan, Pierce, Harding, Nixon, Carter and Clinton. Worse, there are still millions of voters, mainly Democrats, who put him into office…, and who are still registered to vote in the future.
Biden, and the brain-dead automatons who put him into office, have proven that they have forever forfeited any claim of right, ability or competence to govern a free people in a constitutional republic such as remains of the United States.
Accordingly, they should never again be allowed within 52 factorial CUBED light years (yes…, a really, really long distance…) of governmental power. Full stop.
Biden, I doubt he did thus with the use of his senile blob of grey matter, is a steaming heap. What frightens me more are 2 things; 1) the forces pulling his strings that remain unknown and untouched and 2) the millions of indoctrinated and illegal voters that would still support the democrat party at this point. Biden, and his stench, will be gone soon but the swamp and other forces that used this sad heap of misfiring protoplasm still remain unscathed.
Hunter is now immune from prosecution for any crimes from 1/1/2014 – 12/1/2024. (An oddly specific time frame) This should mean that he cannot plead the Fifth if he’s subpoenaed to provide testimony against any of his associates.
Interesting observation
“Hunter is now immune from prosecution for any crimes from 1/1/2014 – 12/1/2024.”
dgsnowden questioned the legitimacy of prospective and/or non-specific Presidential pardons. I think that is an interesting question. Is that power demonstrated fact, i.e., has it ever been tested in court? Did any of Biden the Younger’s alleged crimes occur in a red district where one might find, say, a prosecutor, and a judge, and a grand jury who would be willing to conduct that test?
so is Biden next just going to Pardon Every Democrat for Every Crime they have committed?
Our government is just absurd at this point!
Dear Mr. Turley, thanks for a great article on this very sad subject. I did believe Mr. Biden when he said he would not pardon his son, Hunter. I thought he had some decency left in him. I am sorry that I was wrong about it. Mr. Biden always appeared to me as a “good old boy” who was simply blown about by the changing winds in the political world. Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding his very troubled son, Mr. Biden can fade into the sunset and have a long rest in his beach chair. There isn’t anything more for him to do.
Apologize to all of us. YOU were wrong. Biden is a creep and has always been a creep. Now it’s official. We tried to tell you, but we were called all sorts of vile names for telling the truth.
you can’t pardon for crimes that haven’t been Found! That is the stuff of banana republic. So can Trump Pardon someone kidnapping the Bidens and taking them to Gitmo?
Professor, you could have shortened your piece by simply saying, Democrats lie, Biden in particular.
I recall when in 2013 NYT reported Hunter and Ashley Biden joined their dad on a trip to China. Everyon knew it was bribe scam THEN!
The Rule of Law is DEAD in America
Stop pretending it isn’t!
and GOP will just continue to Fund a TOTALLY CORRUPT Democrat Government!
Guy, I agree with you in principle quite often, but if you can’t differentiate between a party committing crimes, intentionally destroying America, and wanting the west to lose it’s place as the good side and a party that is unable to stop them due to media, tech, Hollywood and academia then you may be part of the problem.
The person that can’t stop the crime isn’t as bad as the criminal.
I hope Prof Turley will address whether immunizing Hunter from any influence peddling prosecutions would mean that he would be required to testify against others.
Any betting person knew NOT to lay money against Biden pardoning his son. It was a fait accompli from the very start.
Well, Biden pardoning his son AFTER Professor Turley’s friend Attorney General Garland failed in his attempt to give the exact same amnesty through that recent “plea deal”
So, any crime committed by Hunter Biden during a 10-year, 11-month period has been pardoned by his father. Gee, that’s awfully convenient for the Biden Crime Family as that covers HB’s time on the Burisma board.
Please allow me to preface this with the opinion that President Biden should not have pardoned his son. With that being said there is literally NO comparison between this pardon and the litany of suspect pardons given by former President Trump, including to his inlaws. Indeed, it was YOU Dr Turley, who said Trump could pardon himself upon return to office. Multiple wrongs never make a right sir and they are legion among these two presidents. Call it properly and without bias professor.
Saying Trump COULD pardon himself is a prospective opinion and not an actual act. Pls advise as to what pardons you believe constituted Trump misusing the pardon power. What in-laws were pardoned for what claimed offenses?
Good one, garyesq2k2!
Who ties your shoelaces for you?
With that being said there is literally NO comparison between this pardon and the litany of suspect pardons given by former President Trump, including to his inlaws.
You are an incredibly poor and sophomoric liar Jeff. Do you have a twin brother Dennis, and your last name is McIntyre?
Do you hide in the same slimy Democrat cave together after each of you drops your deuces here?
I completely understand why Biden did this and I expect a flurry of more of the same before Jan 20.
As not-a-lawyer my understanding of the ethical use of Presidential pardons is as a corrective measure for a miscarriage of justice or as an act of compassion.
It looks pretty damned ugly when it is used as a get out of jail free card for family, friends, and political allies.
FJB
A pardon all the way back to just before Hunter joined Burisma. Now I know, all the allegations were true.
Shannon, my only quibble with your comment (which I liked) is that you say “NOW” I know??? I wonder how naïve you are to have not known this all along.
Ens. Hunter Biden was in possession of cocaine in 2013 when he failed a drug test.