Some Democrats frustrated over Joe Biden pardoning son Hunter

Democrats join Republicans in criticising US President Joe Biden, saying pardon sets a bad precedent

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US President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:42am, 3 Dec 2024Updated: 10:24am, 3 Dec 2024

Already reeling from their November defeats, Democrats now are grappling with US President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son for federal crimes after the party spent years slamming Donald Trump as a threat to democracy who disregarded the law.

The president pardoned Hunter Biden late on Sunday evening, reversing his previous pledges with a grant of clemency that covers more than a decade of any federal crimes his son might have committed.

The 82-year-old president said in a statement that his son’s prosecution on charges of tax evasion and falsifying a federal weapons purchase form were politically motivated.

That explanation did not satisfy some Democrats, angry that Biden’s reversal could make it harder to take on Trump, who has argued that multiple indictments and one conviction against him were a matter of Biden and Democrats turning the justice system against him.

US President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. File photo: AFP

“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” Colorado Governor Jared Polis wrote of Biden on social media.