8 ms·

Nope, Biden pardoning his son was also widely condemned across the political spectrum as an abuse of the pardon power.

• taurath 1y ago
  Truly don’t understand the equivalence here.
  • dylan604 1y ago
    Really? What ever positive opinions I had left of Biden went out the window with that decision.
    • Capricorn2481 1y ago
      It would be weird if he didn't? He pardoned his entire family, as Trump made it clear he was aiming to harass Biden's entire family for revenge. And the way he's been acting this presidency has only confirmed that's not beneath him. The decision is a lot more respectable than "this guy gave me a bribe." They are worlds apart. And some may be theoretically willing to roll the dice on that for their family, but it reads naive.
    • pavlov 1y ago
      Doesn’t it affect your opinion in any way that Trump’s DOJ has been used exactly like his harshest critics last year said it would?
      • dylan604 1y ago
        It's not binary. I can not respect both decisions. Just because I don't respect Trump does not mean I must respect Biden's decision or vice versa. Current POTUS is absolutely vile. The previous guy was put in a position and a decision was made that I did not agree with, but over all, no he wasn't using the federal money to directly line his pocket as compensation for being investigated for things he actually did.
        • mmooss 1y ago
          I think the point is, Biden said he pardoned his son to prevent political persecution of him by Trump. Biden's fears have been borne out - the Trump administrationg is persecuting Trump's enemies. Does that change your opinion of Biden's pardon?
          • dylan604 1y ago
            Where's the preemptive pardons for Comey, James, Schiff? So no, it's not much of a move of the needle since it was only family members.
            • cmurf 1y ago
              It wasn't only family members. Biden granted clemency or pardons to over 4200 people. Notably for the same blanket pardon from 2014 to 2025 for family members, includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, and General Mark Milley. And all of the members of Congress on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack for anything having to do with their role on that committee. Schiff was on that committee. He said the pardon was unnecessary and unwise. https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-joseph-biden-2021-2025 https://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardons-granted-president-jos...
            • deleted 1y ago
              [deleted]
          • whatsupdog 1y ago
            At that Biden was the only president who had used DOJ to persecute his predecessor. So basically he started this shit, and when it turned out the other guy won the election, he pardoned his obviously guilty son, and other obviously guilty party members.
            • dylan604 1y ago
              You say persecute yet those without an agenda say investigate. It was not persecution to look into the events of January 6. Conflating the investigation as persecution is not a very honest take on the events.
  • uh_uh 1y ago
    I will help: people don't like it when the presidential pardon is used for self-serving shit.
    • deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    • SamBam 1y ago
      How is pardoning people like Fauci, or even Hunter, that Trump was clearly going to target as part of an "enemies" list, more "self-serving" than literally pardoning anyone that makes you/give you millions of dollars? (Changpenh Zhao - made him billions; Trevor Milton - donated $1.8 million; Walczak - his mom donated millions)
      • uh_uh 1y ago
        You don't have to prove it to me that Trump is a lot more self-serving than Biden. This should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. That said, this shouldn't be a competition of who is "more self-serving". Just because your neighbour murdered two people, doesn't mean that you get to murder one.
  • inglor_cz 1y ago
    Equivalence may be a strong word, but pardoning your kids is classical Borgia shit straight out of the worst times of Italian Renaissance, and most people would condemn it if it was done by leader of some Central American Ruritania. Of course, once it is done by a president representing the party you (generic you) feel affiliated with, the double standards inevitably kick in.
    • Capricorn2481 1y ago
      > Of course, once it is done by a president representing the party you (generic you) feel affiliated with, the double standards inevitably kick in. Less that, more we're all aware of what Trump campaigned on and what he promised to do to Biden's entire family. And we're disheartened that there's cultists (not you) trying to convince us that we should let our families suffer if dear leader demands it. I don't know these people, I don't have a strong feeling if any of them go to jail for something they did, because I'm not in a personality cult. But I care a lot more if people are going to jail just because a more corrupt person got the keys to everything. Turns out, those fears were valid, and I'm increasingly alarmed that there's still so much vitriol towards Biden pardoning a checks notes gun charge, than there is for the blatantly corrupt shit we see every day.
      • inglor_cz 1y ago
        If your family is threatened by the incoming president, your only reasonable course of action is to move them all abroad to some safe country. A paper you signed is insufficient protection from truly Erdoganesque leaders who are about to gain an imperial presidency. It is just bad politics from all perspectives: inefficient in its original purpose and controversial at the same time.
  • CobrastanJorji 1y ago
    Just as a judge should not be ruling on a case where the defendant is throwing suitcases full of money at him, a judge should also not be ruling on a case where the defendant is his own son. Both are inappropriate uses of a power intended for the application of mercy and the correction of faults in the justice system. Both are the sorts of things that should lead to recusal. Biden's use is far more forgivable, as it's a given that his son was being prosecuted politically to punish Biden (though certainly he was guilty) and would likely have been prosecuted more under Trump, like Comey is being prosecuted today. And certainly "saving your children" is a far more forgivable sin than naked bribery, but being better than Trump is a low bar, but it's still not okay to excuse criminals from punishment because they have an important family member.
  • WinstonSmith84 1y ago
    no equivalence indeed, it's way worse. Biden's son has never contributed to anything, CZ has and had a net positive impact on the Blockchain industry. And I say this as someone who despise Trump. A broken clock can be right twice a day.
    • mcmcmc 1y ago
      You mean a net positive for other crypto scammers by showing how easy it is?
    • kergonath 1y ago
      > CZ has and had a net positive impact on the Blockchain industry. So, a net negative impact on society.
      • mlrtime 1y ago
        And HN's bias comes out again. I'm glad he pardoned CZ. The previous administration + SEC are responsible for this mess by not passing reasonable laws. Coinbase fared much better fighting them all the way. Trump did the right thing here.
    • intermerda 1y ago
      What did the Jan 6 rioters contribute to?
      • WinstonSmith84 1y ago
        To this useless comment, among others.
  • jayd16 1y ago
    If you just argue both sides are the same, you get to excuse yourself from self reflection.
• pavlov 1y ago
  Looking at how this administration is now using the DoJ to hunt even people like Comey and Bolton whose crime was being a non-Trump-aligned Republican… It’s probably good that Biden took away this particular show trial option from them.
  • actionfromafar 1y ago
    Non-Trump-aligned Republicans are now the worst enemies of the state, because they pose a credible threat. Disloyalty is the worst crime around Trump. You must never stop proving your loyalty. Just look at videos of their meetings. Each person speaking must first have a little sermon praising and thanking God, oh sorry no, not God, I meant Trump.
  • tehnoble 1y ago
    It’s worth clarifying that the investigation into Bolton started in 2022 during Biden’s term. Hard(er) to say whether the ultimately issued indictment was politically motivated, but we need to keep an eye towards accuracy on these topics.
• tdb7893 1y ago
  I was against the Biden pardons at the time but in hindsight with the current administration pushing poorly done prosecutions for political purposes I have changed my mind on them. Trump will say his pardons are similar but looking at the facts I don't find them comparable (I'm still livid that he pardoned Blagojevich, who was literally caught on tape talking about selling a US Senate seat).
• bananalychee 1y ago
  He didn't just pardon his family members and issue questionable preemptive pardons, he also issued the most pardons of any president ever, and not by a small margin, but by a factor of 20 compared to Trump up to now, in a single term, including pardons for violent criminals and yes, white-collar fraudsters as well. They didn't get much publicity because most of them were committed at the tail end of his term while the media were focused on the election and on the transition of power, because of double standards, and because the actors were low-profile. It really shouldn't be controversial to point out that the abuse of presidential power didn't start nor end with Trump. He most certainly wouldn't have gotten re-elected if that were the case.
  • ganksalot 1y ago
    it doesn't matter how you count it, what you are saying is bullshit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_granted_clemency_by_the_president_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_gra... the substance of the pardons matters a great deal, as well.
    • bananalychee 1y ago
      Maybe my source was outdated, at least it should be accurate when comparing first terms. Quite the editorial spin on this Wikipedia article, it proves my point about double standards. I'd share some articles listing some murderers and embezzlers pardoned by Biden, but I don't like linking to politically biased sources regardless of their substance since it usually ends up with people nitpicking about the source. It's very easy to find evidence that these weren't 4,000 pardons for innocent marijuana users on Google anyway.
      • ianburrell 1y ago
        Carter pardoned 200,000 draft dodgers. Biden pardoned 256 people, the rest were mass commutations.
• adrr 1y ago
  Because he was prosecuted for doing drugs and owning a gun? There's literal video of Joe Rogan smoking pot and he talks about his concealed weapons permit. It would be a slam dump case, some how i don't think he's getting prosecuted because its selective law open to abuse. Seems perfectly good use of pardon.
  • Alupis 1y ago
    The Hunter Biden issue was not about smoking marijuana... that would have been the very least of his multitude of legal problems. Biden's own DoJ was prosecuting the cases - which is important context to consider here.
    • adrr 1y ago
      > Since 2018, Weiss had been investigating Hunter Biden as U.S. attorney. In 2023, Republicans asked Garland to appoint a special counsel, some specifically demanding Weiss, a Republican appointed to his role by President Donald Trump. Garland ultimately appointed Weiss, giving him additional authority. However, congressional Republicans then expressed criticism, some stating Weiss was untrustworthy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C._Weiss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_C._Weiss 6 years of investigation and all they could find was that Hunter did drugs and owned a gun. I am sure if we drug tested congress, we could prosecute a bunch of congressmen for the same crime. Maybe thats why supreme court is looking at the constitutionality of the law and its all been ruled unconstitutional in one of the courts districts but hey lets prosecute Hunter Biden for it.
      • Alupis 1y ago
        That was not all of Hunter's legal problems - he had serious tax evasion charges[1], along with other Biden family members (all of which were pardoned, unprecedentedly by President Biden). Trying to minimize Hunter's significant legal problems to "he did [many hard, highly regulated] drugs and [illegally] owned a gun [which was thrown into a dumpster]" is disingenuous and factually incorrect. Hunter's (and other Biden family member's) legal issues were so plainly severe, with a near-guarantee of prison time, President Biden was forced to issue an unprecedented, unconditional pardon for "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." A decade-long period during-which any crimes Hunter committed were erased and forgiven. Nobody is above the law? This was Biden's own DoJ. [1] https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco-weiss/pr/grand-jury-returns-indictment-charging-robert-hunter-biden-three-felony-tax-offenses https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco-weiss/pr/grand-jury-ret...
• dotnet00 1y ago
  At the time that did reek of corruption and misuse of power, but given current state of things, it was the right move.
  • munk-a 1y ago
    It protected one individual - there have been a rash of politically motivated moves by the justice department that have targeted plenty of others. I can understand the pardon but the fact that so many other people were left out to dry just reinforces our multi-tiered justice system.
    • dotnet00 1y ago
      Yeah, that's a very fair point. The persecution of Fauci and anyone associated with bringing the charges against Trump would've also been very predictable targets for pardons.
      • deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
    • SamBam 1y ago
      That's why it was not just one individual -- he also pardoned Fauci, members of Congress who served on the J6 investigations, and Gen. Milley for the same reason. It's clear that he was correct that Trump was going to target his political enemies, but it sounds like he can't win here -- if he pardons everyone including Comey, people would say he's abusing the power by pardoning everyone. If he only pardons a few then he's accused of leaving others "high and dry."
• analog31 1y ago
  I was of two minds about that pardon. On the one hand it seemed like an abuse of pardon power. On the other hand, it was also reasonable at the time to expect abuse of presidential power to prosecute political enemies. So on balance I was OK with it. I think the compromise I'd like to see is to curtail both powers.
  • whatsupdog 1y ago
    [flagged]
    • tasty_freeze 1y ago
      Have you ever heard of Whitewater?
    • SamBam 1y ago
      Literally at no time did the Biden administration ever direct the Department of Justice to investigate a political enemy. Exactly the opposite of what the Trump administration had been doing.
      • estearum 1y ago
        But what about if we just imagine the evidence of Biden interference in DOJ decisions? Then they’re basically the same! /s
      • whatsupdog 1y ago
        He sicced Letitia James on Trump.
        • SamBam 1y ago
          What evidence do you have that the administration requested the DOJ to initiate that investigation?
• handsclean 1y ago
  No. Almost everybody hated it out of context, but in context many understood that one man was about to obtain unprecedented power over all three branches of government and use it to vindictively pursue personal vendettas. These people were correct, this then happened. Personally, I’m reminded of how every dysfunctional country’s deposed regimes flee or are killed. We sheltered Americans find it easy to forget that peaceful transfer of power is an accomplishment of lawful society, and as rule of law weakens we have only more chaotic, ignominious, and probably eventually violent transitions to look forward to. Reaction to the Biden pardon is a pretty huge thing to be completely unaware of. You should reevaluate whether you’re in a media bubble.