Biden has pardoned his son because his conviction was a "miscarriage of justice".

[Cantalever]

Is this the total end of standards and even a pretence at integrity in public life? This is a president, who admittedly like all the others, allowed innocent people to be executed in their joke of a justice system. What a hypocrite.

Christ. America is just mad.

Same thing happened with Trump. American presidents also have immunity from prosecution. Their democracy is a shit show run by billionaires.

@Cantalever Who was innocent and executed under Biden’s term? Not saying it’s not the case, just interested in numbers and details.

The ability for a president to pardon is written in the constitution.

This pardon is no worse than many of the other presidential pardons. Trumps list is appalling and he pardoned 237 people compared to Bidens approx 30.

But this is his own son. Biden previously claimed he would not intervene in the juystice system on his son's behalf, or grant him clemency, bht has just gone back on all that. its like the last gasp of a feeble ruler who has lost all sense of wider issues.

This is an interesting move, the public is now going to want to know exactly what his son got up to whereas previously it flew under the radar.

A convicted criminal just got voted in as their president. Nothing surprises me about them anymore

He probably saw no choice, given that the incoming president has pledged to use the Justice Department to target his political opponents, and to purge the Department of civil servants so that his supporters can take their place.

if it makes you feel better, Trump has also pledged to pardon many of his supporters who physically stormed the Capitol in January 2021, in an attempt to prevent the handover of power. But his first move, of course, will be to end the active investigations into his own conduct during his first presidency.

Oh, and Trump’s first pick to run the Justice Department, Matt Gaetz, was recently under investigation by that same department for sex offenses against minors.

You can’t make this shit up. Almost everything that has happened in the US over the past 8 years would have been rejected as a plot element on The Thick of It, as too over-the-top.

Maybe Hunter can become ambassador to France

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qdq9z7pjzo

Tbh I don’t blame him. Biden knows full well that Trump is going to wreak havoc and fill every position of power with his acolytes. I’d hate to have a child in prison who would be at the mercy of the vengeful orange one. Trump has pardoned all sorts of criminals; at this point there really is no point in playing the nice guy and turning the other cheek.

After all the Democrat party put Biden through in the last few months, he probably feels like, fuck it, why should I care

But Hunter Biden isn’t president so your comparison falls at the first hurdle.

The scope and period of the pardon - any crime and over an 11 year period - are what really stands out. It would appear Biden feels he needs a big security blanket against any information that may come out in the future.

Putting the actual pardon to one side, Biden’s lying repeatedly about his intention over this when there were consequences are not the actions of an honourable person .

No, it's a man who knows what's ahead under Trump and has wisely chosen to protect his son from it, while he has the chance. You can't just trust the justice system to do the right thing under Trump.

They have just elected a rapist.
Supported by a billionaire ketamine addict.
What do you expect?

Biden’s lying repeatedly about his intention over this when there were consequences are not the actions of an honourable person .

It's not lying - the situation has radically changed. If Biden was re-elected or his VP elected president, I am fairly sure he would not be making this move now.

Trump would have done the same for his son 🤷🏼‍♀️

Hilarious that people are getting worked up about a pardon that is politically inconsequential when a man like Trump is going to be president.

Trump pardoned his daughter’s FIL and has now appointed him an ambassador. It’s no different. Both are a misuse of power to serve their aims. Both would say they believe in the justice system when it punishes their opponent, but not when it affects them.

In June he said he wouldn't pardon him. Another politician who lied, what a surprise.

I think it’s disingenuous to claim we all wouldn’t do the same thing. Especially given the fact that trump is about to be president

I reckon this. Biden has looked around and thought what is the point of taking the moral high ground and sacrificing my own family to this fucked up system.

No, it's a man who knows what's ahead under Trump and has wisely chosen to protect his son from it, while he has the chance. You can't just trust the justice system to do the right thing under Trump.

Yes. I can't blame Biden for this move at all, no matter what he said previously. And as another poster said, this is completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. His was a victimless crime.

I don't think it is inconsequential. Biden said his son was 'targeted'. OK yes, probably. And probably things would have become far worse for Hunter under Trump, were he in the justice system.

The reason I think it's important is this. It has proved that no matter what side of the political spectrum you are, it's not justice, it's nepotism. It's who you know, there is no semblance of equity or fairness. It is also true that poor, particularly Black men are targeted constantly in the US system. Biden didn't pardon all of them. So it only matters when it's his son.

It's a failed system full of hypocrisy and lies. I don't know how America got here and I don't know that they can get themselves out. It's got an awful Last Days of Rome feel to it.

Tbh I would have done the same. Biden is old and may not be around for much longer. I would like to die surrounded by my family, not with one offspring in prison.