President Biden's unexpected decision to pardon his son Hunter is part of a long history of controversial pardons issued by presidents under vast constitutional authority.
The president's decision, announced late Sunday night, drew immediate outrage from Republicans as well as some Democrats, saying Biden would uphold his son's convictions on federal gun and tax crimes. They criticized him for breaking his previous pledge.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have worked on this issue, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process, which led to the failure of the trial. Once we got there, there was no point in delaying it,'' Biden said. “I hope the American people understand why our father and president is making this decision.”
Biden is not the first president to raise eyebrows when exercising the clemency powers of the nation's highest office. Let's take a look back at the history of controversial presidential pardons.
President Trump pardons Charles Kushner, ally
After the 2020 election, President Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior White House adviser.
Charles Kushner pleaded guilty in 2004 to filing false tax returns and conspiring to retaliate against his sister, a cooperating witness, by having a prostitute seduce her husband and film them having sex.
Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion, lying to the Federal Election Commission and retaliating against a federal witness.
On the same day, President Trump pardoned allies Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. Stone was charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction in connection with the Trump-Russia investigation, and Manafort was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for bank fraud and tax fraud. .
Then, in one of his final acts as president, he also pardoned Steve Bannon, an ally involved in Trump's fundraising efforts for the U.S.-Mexico border wall. New York state prosecutors subsequently launched their own investigation into the matter.
President Trump announced Saturday that he will appoint Charles Kushner to be France's ambassador when he takes back the White House in January.
President Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's sentence
In his final days in the White House, former President Obama commuted most of Chelsea Manning's remaining sentence in January 2017.
Manning, a former Army soldier, was convicted in 2013 of leaking classified information about U.S. national security operations and sentenced to 35 years in prison.
The leak drew global attention to WikiLeaks, which received Manning's revelations. Her sentence was one of the longest ever handed down for a conviction for leaking government information. She served seven years at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, before Obama commuted her sentence.
Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called this “absolutely outrageous.”
Clinton pardons half-brother Marc Rich
Hunter Biden and Charles Kushner are not the only relatives of a sitting president to receive pardons.
In 2001, then-President Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton, who had been sentenced to more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to selling cocaine to an undercover police officer.
The former president also caused controversy in the final hours of his administration when he pardoned commodity trader Marc Rich. Rich fled to Switzerland in 1983 after being charged with evading millions of dollars in taxes and illegal trade with Iran, which held Americans hostage.
The New York Times headline: “Indefensible Pardon” opinion article issued at the time.
Iranian treason criminal George H.W. Bush pardoned
Former President George H.W. Bush a complete pardon was granted Charges against six former senior officials in President Ronald Reagan's administration for their roles in the hostage weapons scandal, later known as the Iran-Contra affair.
several officials Secretly facilitated arms sales to Iranwas under an arms embargo at the time and was funding rebel groups opposed to Nicaragua's anti-American regime.
Government officials, including former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, have been implicated and indicted. Mr. Weinberger's pardon prevents him from standing trial on charges of lying to Congress about his knowledge of the conspiracy.
Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, the prosecutor in this case, said: called President Bush's decision He denounced the completion of the “Iran-Contra cover-up” and accused the president of “misconduct.”
Carter grants full amnesty to Vietnam War draft evaders
On his first day in office in 1977, former President Carter made good on a campaign promise to grant amnesty to Vietnam War draft dodgers, in an effort to make the bitter divisions caused by the war a thing of the past.
Ministry of Justice Estimated at the time Approximately 10,000 men are said to have been affected. The order did not include military deserters or convicted civilian protesters who committed acts of violence.
This decision drew harsh criticism. Then Sen. Barry Goldwater (Republican, Arizona) It was called a pardon. “This is the most shameful thing a president has ever done.”
Ford pardons Nixon after he resigns
In the only pardon for an occupant of the Oval Office, former President Ford granted former President Richard Nixon a “full, free and absolute pardon'' after he resigned from office over the Watergate scandal.
A Gallup poll conducted at the time found that only 38 percent of Americans supported the move. Public opinion about Ford's pardon improved in the years that followed, with a majority of Americans ultimately agreeing that it was the right decision.
Although Nixon was never formally charged with a crime, Ford believed his predecessor's acceptance of a pardon was an admission of guilt based on a 1915 Supreme Court precedent.
Johnson pardons former Confederate soldier
Former President Andrew Johnson granted amnesty to former Confederates in a series of proclamations after the Civil War, but initially made exceptions and required some to sign an oath of allegiance to the United States before receiving reprieve. I asked for it.
Finally, on Christmas Day 1868, Johnson granted a “full pardon and amnesty” for treason to “all persons who took part directly or indirectly in the late rebellion or insurrection.”
Prime Minister Johnson wrote that the pardon would “ensure lasting peace, order and prosperity throughout the land, and renew and fully restore the sentiments of confidence and brotherhood throughout the nation.”
Washington: First presidential pardon for treason
The first presidential pardon in history also caused controversy.
president washington exercised first This power was granted in 1795 to pardon two Pennsylvania men who had been sentenced to hang for treason for participating in the so-called Whiskey Rebellion.
then-Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton wrote in a letter against Washington, claiming that their role in the violent protests against the whiskey tax championed by Hamilton threatened the sovereignty of the federal government, and that the “full force of the law” should be brought against them. insisted.
But Washington believed that a tolerant response would be a better way to resolve the conflict.
