Joe Biden has just issued a presidential pardon to his son Hunter, granting him clemency for nine felony counts of tax evasion and three felony counts for lying while applying to own a gun. I’ll be the first one to admit that it sets a bad political precedent, considering that there are people currently languishing in jails across the nation for lesser offenses, no presidential pardons in sight.
While every American has the right to criticize the decision, those criticisms ring particularly hollow from the supporters of Donald Trump. After all, Trump pardoned a member of his own family as well: his son in law’s father. Oh and thieves, liars, and war criminals – they all got presidential pardons too. Throughout his first term in office, Trump has quite a few pardons to hand out. According to this X user, 143 pardons to be exact.
One of the most flagrantly self-serving pardons granted by Trump was that of Charles Kushner, a real estate mogul and father of Jared. In 2005, Kushner was convicted of 16 counts of felony tax evasion, as well as witness tampering. The witness in question? His own brother in law. In order to extract revenge against his brother in law for cooperation with federal police in an investigation, Kushner hired a sex worker to lure his brother-in-law to a hotel room, where their subsequent encounter was filmed by hidden cameras. Kushner then sent the tapes to the man’s wife, his own sister, as a form of retributional blackmail. Chris Christie, who was then the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey called the affair “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” that he had ever prosecuted. What is Kushner up to now? He’s currently being tapped by Trump to serve as the ambassador to France. His qualifications? Loyalty to the Trump administration, nothing more.
Kushner is hardly the first Trump loyalist that the incumbent president pardoned during his first term. Trump also issued a pardon to Roger Stone, a conservative “fixer” who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering while attempting to undermine the political campaign of Hilary Clinton. Trump also pardoned Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman whose financial fraud conviction was the result of the Russia probe led special counsel Robert Mueller. He also pardoned former advisor Steve Bannon, convicted for financial fraud. George Papadopoulos, another former campaign advisor convicted of lying to the FBI. Albert Pirro, a former Fox News host convicted of conspiracy and tax evasion. And lest we forget, Trump also pardoned four Blackwater mercenaries serving time for their participation in the Nisour Square Masscare, a particularly heinous slaughter of Iraqi civilians.
When it comes to the pardoning of family members and political allies, neither Trump nor Biden set the unfortunate precedent. It’s a move old as the pardon itself. According to pardon expert Kimberly Wehle, the use and abuse of the pardon isn’t going anywhere soon. Where believes that the power presidential pardon is likely to be stretched “in response to Trumpian promises to weaponize the Department of Justice.” While it’s credible to think that Biden’s use of the pardon will only further embolden Trump to do the same, Whele believes that the president-elect’s past pardons have made his future intentions “clear”: Trump was always going to abuse the pardon, and won’t stop any time soon.
Published: Dec 4, 2024 05:29 am