Sunday, December 1, 2024

Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden for gun and tax crimes, breaking promise to not do so.

 

File photo of Joe and Hunter Biden. AP.

Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden for gun and tax crimes, breaking his promise to not do so. AP. The pardon follows the younger Biden's conviction for lying on a federal background check for firearms, (form 4473) and a surprise plea deal for his tax crime charges for not reporting $1.4 million in income. Biden had said he would respect the jury's decision in the gun case but has now pardoned his son, despite claims as recent as last month saying he would not do so. In addition to the two convictions, the pardon covers any and all federal crimes committed by Hunter Biden between the years of 2014 and 2024. Biden said in the announcement that he felt that prosecution of his son was politically motivated. Hunter had pled guilty to both crimes but there was outrage after the gun charges would have been dropped under the terms of the "sweetheart" deal. 


My Comment:

This was obviously expected and the only way Joe Biden wasn't going to pardon his son is if he had a deal in place to have Donald Trump pardon him instead. That was a longshot but it was something that was considered.  Ultimately, it didn't happen because Biden did it before Trump even had the chance to do so. 

I am guessing that the sticking point for any such deal, if it was even discussed, was the scope of the pardon. Trump was likely to only pardon Hunter for the two crimes he was convicted of, the gun charge and the tax case. Biden's pardon was of a much larger scope and would cover any corruption Hunter Biden had during his Ukraine adventures. This pardon will pretty much cancel any attempt to punish Hunter Biden for his Ukraine corruption before they could even get started. 

Biden complained that the charges against Hunter were politically motivated and it's not the craziest thing he's ever said. Folks rarely get charged for lying on form 4473 and the tax charges would have been plead down. The charges were kind of unprecedented. 

But I also think that the charges were justified due to the fact that the "sweetheart deal" that was offered to Hunter Biden was also politically motivated. Hunter Biden would not have gotten that deal if it wasn't for who his father was, and it fell apart because there was real outrage that Biden was going to skate on charges that most folks would not have. 

People were also outraged that Hunter Biden had committed a gun crime while his father supported gun control. Sure, I personally have a lot of problems with the charge that Hunter Biden caught, form 4073 shouldn't exist and being a drug user shouldn't hurt your gun rights unless you are convicted. But for an anti-gun president to pardon a gun criminal? It's not a good look. 

Still, this was always going to happen. Everyone knew that Joe Biden was lying though his teeth when he said that he wouldn't pardon Hunter Biden. Indeed, it would have been shocking if he hadn't. Biden is many things, most of them are bad, but one of his rare virtues is his love for his family and there was no way he was going to send his only remaining son to prison. It was always a lie but at least it's an understandable one. Biden should and will be criticized for lying about this, but I can't really fault him for the pardon, it's what presidents do, and even I have to admit that his love for Hunter Biden, wastrel that he is, is genuine. 

Finally, there was some hope in the gun rights community that Hunter Biden would appeal his gun conviction. After NYSRPA v Bruen, form 4473 was on the bubble. There would have been a real chance of the law being overturned due to failing the standard set by Bruen. That was always probably a pipe dream, but that dream is dead for sure now... 

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