I beg your pardon

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

In the history of presidential pardons, the absolution granted to Hunter Biden by U.S. President Joe Biden stands alone. This clemency will register as one of the shameful culminating acts of a good man, and father, now inelegantly exiting the West Wing.

The crimes committed by Hunter Biden, the youngest son of Joe Biden, are far from the most heinous ever to elicit the mercy of a U.S. president. Presidents have extended pardons to war criminals. Even setting aside the fact that the Bidens share a direct family bloodline doesn’t render the pardon granted by the 46th president historically rare — even though this one represents the first time a president has bestowed the extraordinary forgiveness to a direct progeny.

What makes the president’s pardon historically consequential is the simple fact that it’s a pardon that Joe Biden said on several occasions he wouldn’t offer. He didn’t equivocate. So, now we’re left to question whether Joe Biden simply changed his mind or deliberately misled the American public in the heat of an election campaign from which he had yet to withdraw.

When Joe Biden told the American public he would accept the will of the jury, which convicted Hunter Biden on gun charges earlier this year, he was clear. He vowed to respect the rule of law as our best leaders do.

“I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter,” Joe Biden said after the conviction. “He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know. I abide by the jury decision. I will do that, and I will not pardon him.”

Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty in June of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally possessing a gun for 11 days. At the time of this past weekend’s pardon, he had yet to be sentenced. Before the pardon, Hunter Biden was also scheduled to face a judge to be sentenced on a felony tax evasion guilty plea.

Now, the false equivalencies have begun in earnest. Shortly after Joe Biden’s grant of clemency was announced Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump wrote the following post on the Truth Social platform:

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 (January 6th) Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

A spokesperson for the Trump transition team offered additional perspective in defense of Trump, who was found guilty of 34 felony charges related to a hush money payment to a porn actress in the 2016 campaign. The cases involving Trump and Hunter Biden bear no comparison, but that hasn’t prevented either side from arguing that they are victims of a politicized Department of Justice.

“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proved that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Trump’s incoming White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said in a statement to Fox News.

“That system of justice must be fixed, and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people,” said Cheung.

To repeat: It’s a false equivalency. Trump and a group of his supporters attempted to overturn a fair and free election. He branded the Jan. 6 protesters (and associated insurrectionists) as patriots and now may soon use his sweeping constitutional powers to grant them the same courtesy that Joe Biden granted his son. At least, Trump has previously said he would consider pardons on a case-by-case basis.

Even the sad spectacle of Trump potentially pardoning those who stormed the Capitol won’t completely eclipse one of the final acts of Joe Biden as U.S. president. He chose his son over country. He did so despite his stated intent that he wouldn’t.