We can’t say that we are surprised by President Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter. Although he had consistently maintained that he would not do so, the warm and fuzzy/Norman Rockwell/American rustic relationship they labored so hard to present to the public strongly suggested to us that there would be a pardon in Hunter’s future.
To be sure there is a lot to be upset about here. President Biden offered the same “selective prosecution” argument as the reason for the pardon that Donald Trump made against his prosecutions but which was roundly debunked by the President and his amen corner.
Yet Trump consistently denied his guilt while Hunter pleaded guilty to nine federal charges for falsifying records and failing to file tax returns. He was also convicted of three straightforward felony charges of lying on an application for the purchase of a revolver.
And he was expecting to be indicted for the straightforward crime of failing to register as a foreign agent before lobbying for a foreign government.
Moreover, the text of the pardon substantially tracked the language of a plea bargain offered by the Department of Justice to Hunter, but which was rejected by a federal judge who said she had never seen anything like it before, as the prosecuting and defense attorneys also said.
But there is little point in quibbling about the pardon. Under the Constitution, the President of the United States has the undiluted power to pardon anyone he wants to pardon – except, perhaps if money changes hands. But even then, only maybe.
But for those who have strong feeling against the pardon, all is not lost. The Republican-controlled United States Senate and House of Representatives have the power to investigate who in government he lobbied, about what, and with what result.
And there are also perjury rules to keep witnesses on the straight and narrow.
