The New York Times editorial board has come out against President Biden’s decision to pardon embattled First Son Hunter Biden; they say it sets a dangerous precedent.
The board blasted Biden in an article entitled The Dangerous Precedent of Biden’s Pardon.
“This was a significant misstep that could leave lasting damage,” the board wrote on Wednesday. “It will not only tarnish Mr. Biden’s own record as a defender of democratic norms, it will also be greedily embraced as justification for Donald Trump’s further abuses of pardon power and broader attacks on the integrity of the justice system.”
“At the most base level, it reinforces the sense that Mr. Trump’s systematic abuse of the pardon system in his first term was not an aberration, that presidents of every party exploit their constitutional privilege to benefit their relatives and cronies, that justice is only for those with the right connections,” the board wrote of the pardon.
The POTUS pardoned Hunter from any crimes against the U.S. that he “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024. In his explanation of the pardon, Biden said Hunter was targeted “unfairly.”
“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Biden said.
NYT blasted Biden for going back on his promise to not pardon Hunter and for accusing his own justice department of wrongdoing.
“Then on Sunday, in direct violation of his own pledges not to do so, Mr. Biden pardoned his own son, Hunter. Though he claimed the decision was made out of fatherly love, his explanation also attacked the investigation of his son and, implicitly, his own Justice Department.”
