WASHINGTON — President Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter of tax fraud and gun convictions continued to stoke divisions among Democrats Tuesday — as the party prepares to turn the page on the retiring 82-year-old president’s tenure.
Biden’s Sunday night pardon, made after both he and his top spokeswoman falsely claimed for months that respecting the American legal system trumped his son’s liberty, drew a surprisingly swift initial backlash from elected Democrats, even though DC insiders viewed it as an inevitable aboutface.
“It’s a shame that President Biden put his family and personal life above the country,” a former Biden aide told The Post, adding they were “not surprised after we lost the election, but it will be a stain on his legacy.”
Another former Biden adviser defended him, arguing that “real people” would “understand him giving a pardon to his addict son” and would “understand how his position on it evolved.”
On-air Biden defenders argued that Biden needed to do it because President-elect Donald Trump could level new charges against Hunter, who frequently involved his father in business relationships that critics said amounted to illegal influence peddling — even though Trump himself said he was open to pardoning Hunter, 54.
“I think [Biden and his spokespeople’s] only mishap was how much they said no — not that they pardoned him,” said a senior congressional Democratic source.
That source added that Trump, who responded to the pardon by indicating he may pardon the hundreds of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6., 2021, “will make this one look like a toddler crawl.”
In a statement nearly 48 hours after the controversial pardon was announced, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries avoided weighing in — and called instead for mass pardons of nonviolent offenders.
“During his final weeks in office, President Biden should exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated throughout his life, including toward his son, and pardon on a case-by-case basis the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses,” Jeffries (D-NY) said. “This moment calls for liberty and justice for all.”
‘Very ill-considered decision’
A parade of Democratic office-holders bluntly rebuked Biden for the pardon — which comes on the heels of party members attributing Trump’s Nov. 5 election victory to Biden’s refusal to step aside earlier and only doing so in July after a prolonged intraparty mutiny over his perceived cognitive decline.
“I think it was a very ill-considered decision by President Biden,” California Sen.-elect Adam Schiff told USA Today.
“I understand as a father he wanted to help his son, but that precedent will almost certainly be abused by his successor, and he committed to not pardoning his son. He should have kept that,” Schiff said.
“He didn’t need to tell the American public, ‘I will not do this,’ and he did. And when you make a promise, you got to keep it,” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said.
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet tweeted that Biden “put personal interest ahead of duty” and that it “further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.”
It’s unclear what if any electoral effect the pardon might have in two or four years, though some of the critics come from swing states.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters tweeted: “A president’s family and allies shouldn’t get special treatment. This was an improper use of power, it erodes trust in our government, and it emboldens others to bend justice to suit their interests.”
“I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong,” added Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Arizona) on X, who rebuked Biden for saying in his pardon statement that Hunter was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers,” Stanton wrote.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement, “I am disappointed President Biden went back on his pledge not to pardon his son. I am concerned about the precedent this sets, and the message it sends to Americans about how our justice system works.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first high-profile Democrat to trash the decision said that “I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country.”
“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. When you become President, your role is Pater familias of the nation,” tweeted Polis, a possible 2028 presidential candidate.
“Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.”
A Delaware jury in June convicted Hunter Biden of three gun felonies and the first son pleaded guilty in September to bilking the government of $1.4 million in taxes from income gained via foreign business relationships in which Joe Biden was involved.
The troubled first son had been awaiting sentencing hearings in both cases for later this month.