The presidential election may have delivered a decisive victory for President-elect Donald Trump, but it leaves one question up in the air: the fate of Hunter Biden. I wouldn't be shocked if Joe Biden pardoned Hunter at the 11th hour before leaving office. That said, the Biden White House has consistently stated that Biden will not pardon his son, who was convicted earlier this year on felony charges of tax fraud and firearm violations.
Hunter's sentencing is scheduled for next month, and he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Although Joe Biden has publicly emphasized his respect for the legal process regarding his son’s crimes, the criminal investigations into Hunter Biden have reportedly strained his relationship with Attorney General Merrick Garland because Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Hunter’s tax and gun-related offenses.
Similarly, Trump’s first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, faced significant criticism for recusing himself from the baseless Russian collusion investigation, but he did so to shield the investigation from accusations of political interference.
Now that Hunter has been found guilty and is on the verge of being sentenced, Hunter's fate is uncertain.
Despite Biden's claims to the contrary, author and journalist Bob Woodward believes that Joe will pardon Hunter. "He has said he would not pardon him... Quite frankly, I know enough about Biden. I don't believe that. I think he will pardon his son," Woodward told Stephen Colbert back in October.
According to a report from Newsweek after Trump won the election, Democrats are worried that if Biden were to pardon his son before leaving office, it could "invite a political backlash that would create a new headache for Democrats already grappling with a stunning election loss, fueled in part by the incumbent president's unpopularity."
Now there are rumblings that President Trump could issue the pardon.
Earlier this week, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre if Joe Biden would ask President Trump to pardon Hunter upon taking office. She dodged the question completely.
"President Biden says that he’s not going to pardon his son Hunter. Is he going to ask Donald Trump to do that?"
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"I don’t have anything else to share about that," Jean-Pierre replied. "I’m not going to get — go down a rabbit hole on this."
Trump has previously indicated that the idea isn't off the table.
"I wouldn't take it off the books," Trump said in an interview with Hugh Hewitt last month. "See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they've done to me, where they've gone after me so viciously ... And Hunter's a bad boy. There's no question about it. He's been a bad boy"
Trump added, "But I happen to think it's very bad for our country."
"I could have gone after Hillary," he continued. "I could have gotten Hillary Clinton very easily. [...] I could have had her put in jail. And I decided I didn’t want to do that. I thought it would look terrible."
Well, Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden are two very different situations, for sure. For one thing, Hunter has already gone through the legal system and been found guilty. Just as Democrats are worried about Joe Biden causing backlash in the party for pardoning Hunter, Trump would risk blowback for pardoning Hunter, as it would reinforce the idea of a dual system of justice for well-connected people.
If Biden wants a pardon for his son, he needs to do it himself. After weaponizing the Department of Justice against Trump, Trump doesn't owe him a damn thing.
