How will Hunter Biden’s pardon impact future presidential pardons?
Could Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter set a precedent moving forward? Here is what we know now.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., argued on Thursday that President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and President-elect Donald Trump both deserve pardons after facing what he called “politically motivated” legal trials.
“I think that it’s undeniable that the case against Hunter Biden was really politically motivated, but I also think it’s true that the trial in New York for Trump was political as well,” Fetterman said Thursday during an appearance on “The View.”
Joe Biden has taken some heat from Republicans and members his own party after issuing a broad pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted in June on three federal charges for lying about his drug use when purchasing a handgun in 2018. He pled guilty to federal tax evasion charges for a period spanning from 2016 to 2019.
“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,” Joe Biden alleged in announcing the decision to pardon Hunter Biden.
The president’s senior aides are now discussing potential preemptive pardons for people the Biden administration believes Trump will target, a source familiar with the conversations told USA TODAY.
Earlier this year, Trump was hit was 34 separate felony convictions by a New York jury for falsifying business records connected to hush-money payments for Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, ahead of the 2016 election.
In that situation, however, a pardon would have to been handled at the state level. Trump filed a motion this week asking the New York criminal court to throw out both the convictions and his indictment, citing his return to the White House.
Fetterman, an outspoken Democrat who often bucks the party line, said he believes a pardon is appropriate in both situations, “and we cannot allow these types of institutions to be weaponized against our political opponents.”
Both Hunter Biden and Trump have been found guilty by juries, and there is not evidence those bodies were influenced by politics.
Other Democrats, such as Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and independent lawmakers, such as Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., have said they would be supportive of pardoning Trump.
But the Pennsylvania lawmaker notably said pardons should not be issued for those convicted of any violence related to the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attacks. One of Trump’s signature campaign promises was pardoning at least some of the people charged in connection to the riot.
