President Biden tries to justify Hunter pardon by accusing DOJ of politicization
Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., weighs in on President Biden’s pardon of his son and his claims of politicization in the Department of Justice.
President Biden pardoned son Hunter Biden Sunday after repeatedly vowing he would not spare him from sentencing in a pair of separate federal court cases.
Biden has just under 47 days remaining in the Oval Office before President-elect Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president.
As Biden’s term comes to an end, a handful of elected officials and others have called on the president to issue pardons for other Americans, including the suggestion of "preemptive pardons" for Democrats ahead of Trump’s second term.
President Biden speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
‘Preemptive pardons’ for Trump’s perceived enemies
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey claimed after the election he expects Trump to act in a "fascistic way" as president and called on Biden to pardon Democrats who could face prosecution under a second Trump administration.
"I think that, without question, Trump is going to try to act in a dictatorial way, in a fascistic way, in a revengeful first year at least of his administration toward individuals who he believes harmed him," Markey claimed during a local radio interview last month.
"If it’s clear by Jan. 19 that that is his intention, then I would recommend to President Biden that he provide those preemptive pardons to people because that’s really what our country is going to need next year."
Trump has long accused Democrats and the Biden administration of employing "lawfare" against him as he battled charges from racketeering to falsifying business records, with supporters such as Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., proclaiming last month that "accountability is coming" for those who targeted Trump.
Under Markey’s argument, Biden could preemptively pardon Democrats who directly prosecuted Trump on charges Trump has slammed as "shams" and "witch hunts."
Kern Valley State Prison in California (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Sweeping pardons to end mass incarceration and ‘reunite families’
A handful of congressional Democrats — most notably representatives Ayanna Pressley, Mary Gay Scanlon and James Clyburn — called on Biden last month in a letter to issue sweeping pardons to convicts in a bid to "reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration."
The lawmakers requested the president pardon those who have languished in prison systems for years and rectify "draconian" sentences imposed on criminals. The letter specifically called for the president to consider pardons for the "elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers."
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"Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges. The grant of pardons and commutations and the restoration of rights will undoubtedly send a powerful message across the country in support of fundamental fairness and furthering meaningful criminal justice reform," they wrote in a letter to Biden last month.
Former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, takes the stage during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
Pardoning President-elect Donald Trump
Outgoing Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a vocal critic of Trump's, said earlier this year Biden should have pardoned Trump from his indictments.
"[Biden] should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward," Romney told MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle in May. "It was a win-win for Donald Trump.
"You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him," he said. "I'd have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy."
Biden pardoning Trump is unlikely to happen and would only apply to his federal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith. Legal cases against Trump have stalled since his win last month.
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A person holds foil while smoking after the decriminalization of all drugs, including fentanyl and meth, in downtown Portland, Ore., Jan. 25, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Clemency for drug offenders
Biden has pardoned 26 people during nearly four years in office, a review of DOJ data shows. The majority of those individuals were convicted of drug crimes, such as conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine or conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base.
In October, seven Senate Judiciary Committee members and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock sent a letter to Biden calling on him to commute sentences for individuals who would have been handed shorter sentences under the 2018 First Step Act. The First Step Act was a criminal justice reform bill Trump signed into law following bipartisan support that reduced mandatory minimum sentences for some drug crimes.
"This Administration has the opportunity to deliver justice to incarcerated people who were sentenced under overly harsh mandatory minimums that the bipartisan First Step Act corrected," Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, who signed the letter, told Politico earlier this year. "President Biden should heed our call and use the power of executive clemency while he has it."
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Julian Assange
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is again earning support from lawmakers and others to be pardoned after years of legal woes over his publication of classified military documents leaked to him by a source in 2010.
A bipartisan effort spearheaded by representatives James McGovern, D-Mass., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., called on Biden last week to pardon Assange and "send a clear message" that his administration will not target journalistic activity.
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks on the balcony of the embassy of Ecuador in London May 19, 2017. (Constantin Eckner/picture alliance via Getty Images)
"We write, first, to express our appreciation for your administration's decision last spring to facilitate a resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and to withdraw the related extradition request that had been pending in the United Kingdom," the lawmakers wrote to Biden. "This brought an end to Mr. Assange's protracted detention and allowed him to reunite with his family and return to his home country of Australia."
Assange reached a deal with the U.S. Justice Department to end his imprisonment in the U.K. over charges related to publishing classified military documents. He had spent years in the U.K. to avoid extradition to the U.S.
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He pleaded guilty in June to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information and was sentenced to time served. He returned to his native Australia after the plea deal.
"The terms of Mr. Assange's plea agreement have now set a precedent that greatly deepens our concern," the lawmakers’ letter to Biden said. "A review of prosecutions under the Espionage Act makes clear that Mr. Assange's case is the first time the Act has been deployed against a publisher.
"A pardon would remove the precedent set by the plea and send a clear message that the U.S. government under your leadership will not target or investigate journalists and media outlets simply for doing their jobs."
President Biden pardoned son Hunter Biden Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Biden’s pardoning of his son Sunday followed the president saying earlier this year he would not pardon his son before and after Hunter was found guilty in a June gun trial.
"I am not going to do anything," Biden said after Hunter was convicted in the gun case. "I will abide by the jury’s decision."
Hunter Biden was found guilty June 11 of lying about his drug use when buying a gun in 2018. He was found guilty on three charges — making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
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Hunter Biden had an extensive and well-documented history with addiction, which was best captured in his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things," which walked readers through his spirals of crack cocaine use.
Hunter Biden faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses over his alleged failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a California court in September. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea.
When grilled by the media about Biden pardoning his son after saying he would not take such an action, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president will make other pardon announcements in the coming weeks but did not provide details.
"As it relates to pardoning or any clemency, the president, as you know, at the end of the year, makes announcements. He’s thinking through that process very thoroughly," Jean-Pierre said Monday.
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"I’m not going to get ahead of — of the president on this. But you could expect more announcements, more … pardons and clemency at the end of … this term."
Fox News Digital's Landon Mion contributed to this report.
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