President Biden on Sunday pardoned his son Hunter Biden after repeatedly vowing not to spare him from sentencing in two separate federal courts.
Biden has just under 47 days left in the Oval Office until President-elect Trump is inaugurated as the 47th president.
As Biden's term ends, some elected officials are urging the president to pardon other Americans, including proposing a “preemptive pardon” to Democrats ahead of Trump's second term. I'm asking you to give.
Hunter Biden pardon undermines party's 'self-proclaimed authority' on rule of law: Democratic strategist
President Biden speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, November 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Seneta)
'Pre-emptive pardons' for people deemed to be President Trump's enemies
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, claimed after the election that he expected Trump to act in a “fascist manner” as president, threatening the possibility of prosecution under a second Trump administration. He asked Biden to pardon a Democrat.
Markey said on local radio: “There is no doubt that, at least in the first year of his administration, Mr. Trump will seek to act in an authoritarian, fascist manner in retaliation against those who he believes have harmed him.'' I will,” he claimed. Last month's interview.
“If it's clear by January 19th that that's the president's intent, I would encourage President Biden to grant preemptive pardons to Americans, because that's what our country really needs next year.”
Trump has long accused Democrats and the Biden administration of taking “legal action” against him on charges ranging from extortion to falsifying business records, according to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida). “Accountability is coming,” supporters declared last month. “To those who targeted Trump.
Mr. Markey argued that Mr. Biden could pre-emptively pardon Democrats who directly prosecuted Mr. Trump on charges that Mr. Trump denounced as a “charlatan” and a “witch hunt.”
Kern Valley State Prison, California (Luis Cinco/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Significant amnesty to end mass incarceration and “reunite families”
A handful of congressional Democrats, particularly Ayanna Pressley, Mary Gay Scanlon, and James Clyburn, urged Biden in a letter last month to “reunify families and address longstanding injustices in our justice system.” and put our country on track to end mass incarceration.”
Lawmakers called on the president to pardon people who have languished in prison for years and to rectify the “draconian” sentences imposed on criminals. The letter specifically asked the president to consider pardoning “the elderly and chronically ill, people on death row, people with unfair sentencing disparities, and women who have been punished for defending themselves from their abusers.”
IRS special counsel says he doesn't condone Biden's 'statements' about Hunter Biden's legal saga
“Now is the time to use the power of pardon to correct the unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and the harsh sentences handed down by judges. Granting pardons and commutations, and restoring rights. , will undoubtedly send a strong message across the country in support of the state's “advancement of basic equity and meaningful criminal justice reform,” they wrote in a letter to Biden last month. .
Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump takes the stage during a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, on August 23, 2024. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)
President-elect Donald Trump pardoned
Outgoing Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a fierce critic of Trump, said earlier this year that Biden should have exempted Trump from prosecution.
”[Biden] “We should have fought like crazy to stop this prosecution. It was a win-win for Donald Trump,” Romney told MSNBC host Stephanie Rhule in May.
“I may not agree with this opinion, but if I were President Biden, I would have pardoned him immediately when the Justice Department brought charges,” he said. “If it were me, I would have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it would make me, President Biden, a great man and the person I pardoned would be a dwarf.”
Mr. Biden is unlikely to pardon Mr. Trump, and it would only apply to federal charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The case against Trump has stalled since his victory last month.
Romney suggests Biden made a 'big mistake' by not forgiving Trump: 'It was a win-win'
A person holds a foil and smokes after the decriminalization of all drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, in downtown Portland, Oregon, on January 25, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Leniency towards drug offenders
Mr. Biden granted pardons to 26 people during his nearly four years in office, according to a Justice Department data review. The majority of these individuals have been convicted of drug crimes, including conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine, and conspiracy to manufacture, distribute, and possess with intent to distribute cocaine and cocaine base.
In October, seven members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock sent a letter to Biden requesting commutation of sentences for individuals who would have received shorter sentences under the First Step Act of 2018. . The First Step Act is a criminal justice reform bill signed by President Trump with bipartisan support that lowers minimum sentences for some drug crimes.
Vermont Sen. Peter Welch, who signed the letter, said earlier this year that “this administration has no right to justice for inmates sentenced under the harsh mandatory minimum sentences corrected by the bipartisan First Step Act.” “There's an opportunity to bring that to life,” he told Politico. “President Biden should heed our call and exercise his presidential pardon power while he still has it.”
Biden twice said he would not forgive his son Hunter Biden
julian assange
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is backed by lawmakers who are seeking another pardon after years of legal trouble over the release of secret military documents leaked by a source in 2010.
A bipartisan effort led by Reps. James McGovern of Massachusetts and Thomas Massey of Kentucky last week “sends a clear message” to Biden that his administration will not target journalistic work by pardoning Assange. I asked.
McGovern, Massey urge Biden to pardon Julian Assange to 'send a clear message' about press freedom
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London on May 19, 2017. (Konstantin Ekner/Photo Alliance via Getty Images)
“We begin by expressing our gratitude for the government's decision last spring to expedite the resolution of the criminal case against publisher Julian Assange and withdraw the related extradition request pending in the UK.” wrote Biden in a letter. . “This ends Mr Assange's long period of detention, allowing him to be reunited with his family and return to his homeland of Australia.”
Mr Assange has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to end his imprisonment in the UK on charges related to the publication of classified military documents. He had spent years in the UK to avoid extradition to the US
Biden pardons son Hunter Biden before leaving Oval Office
In June, he pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act for conspiring to illegally obtain and disseminate classified national defense information and was sentenced to prison. He returned to his native Australia after a plea deal.
“The terms of Mr. Assange's plea agreement set a precedent that deeply concerns us,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Biden. “Our review of charges under the Espionage Act reveals that Mr. Assange's case is the first time the Act has been applied against a publisher.
“A pardon removes the precedent set by the petition and sends a clear message that the U.S. government under your leadership will not target or investigate journalists or news organizations simply for doing their jobs. Become.”
President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Mr. Biden pardoned his son on Sunday, after the president said earlier this year that he would not pardon Mr. Hunter before or after he was convicted in a firearms trial in June.
“I'm not going to do anything,” Biden said after Hunter was convicted in the gun case. “I comply jury decision. ”
Hunter Biden was found guilty on June 11 of lying about his drug use when purchasing a gun in 2018. He was found guilty of three counts of making a false statement when purchasing a firearm and making a false statement in relation to information required to be retained. Possession of a firearm by a federally licensed gun dealer and by an illegal user or addict of a controlled substance.
Hunter Biden pardon sets troubling precedent and risks politicizing the Justice Department, critics say
Hunter Biden is extensive His history of addiction is well-documented, best illustrated in his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” which takes readers through his spiral of crack cocaine use.
In September, Hunter Biden faced a new trial in a California court on three felony tax crimes and six misdemeanor charges for allegedly failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to begin, Los Angeles federal courtHunter made a surprise guilty plea.
When pressed by the media about pardoning his son after Biden said he would not take such action, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would make other pardon announcements in the coming weeks. However, he did not go into details.
“As it relates to pardons and pardons, the president, as you know, makes announcements at the end of the year. He's thought through that process very thoroughly,” Jean-Pierre said Monday.
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“I'm not going to get ahead of the president on this, but you can expect more announcements, more pardons and pardons at the end of this term.”
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.
