Fact number one: Yesterday Joe Biden pardoned his son for any and all legal infractions he may have committed over a period of TEN  ELEVEN YEARS. Here it is (emphasis is mine):

Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto

ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.

Fact number two: Hunter Biden committed these crimes. It may be true – as stated by Joe Biden – that Hunter was singled out because he is his son – but Hunter wasn’t entrapped or wrongfully convicted.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong,” the outgoing president said in a written statement. “Raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice… I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

A jury convicted Hunter Biden of three separate felony charges in June related to his purchase of a firearm while he was an active drug user. He also pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges.

Criticism is coming as much from the left as from the right. I don’t remember this level of tut-tutting when Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger Clinton. In fairness, though, Roger had already served his sentence for drug charges.

Examples:

The Guardian:

Joe Biden’s decision has split Democrats on Capitol Hill (we reported on some Republican reaction in our previous post).

Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado, criticized Biden’s decision.

“While as a father I certainly understand President Joe Biden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country,” Polis said on X, as reported by NBC News, which was the first to break the news of the presidential pardon.

“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation.”

Arizona congressman Greg Stanton, also a Democrat said he thought Biden “got this one wrong.”

“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution,” Stanton said, also on X. “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Legal experts who spoke to Politico noted the scope of Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, saying that it is comparable only to the pardon Gerald Ford granted to his White House predecessor, Richard Nixon.

Now, the reasons why. There are several things to consider, other than the love of a father for his son.

First, Biden is covering his own butt. Example:

Second, as WeeWeed opined:

I’m wondering about the timing on the pardon – is FJB afraid they’re gonna bounce him out ahead of time so the drunk can be “47” for a minute (and she, for sure, wouldn’t do him any favors?) Or what?? Something (besides the pardon) smells.

Third: There has been talk about Trump pardoning Hunter when he gets into the White House. Maybe Joe was heading that off at the pass.

Only time will tell, but in the meantime, President-Elect Trump has an opinion:

President-elect Trump’s transition team also issued a statement, saying the

“system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.”

During the campaign, Trump correctly predicted that Biden was lying about not wanting to pardon his son. “I’ll bet you the father probably pardons him. Let’s see what happens. But he’s a bad boy.”

There have been suggestions from the left that this pardon will give Trump free rein to pardon whomever he likes.

Hunter Biden’s own statement:

‘I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,’ he said.

‘Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends.’