Multiple Democrats Offer Warnings After Biden Pardons His Son

President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden leave a bookstore while shopping in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Nov. 29, 2024. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Several Democrats have said that President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, could harm the party or even the country moving forward.

The president said in a Dec. 1 statement that he was pardoning Hunter Biden for his tax evasion and gun convictions, along with any other potential crimes he may have committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024.

Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said that no one is above the law and that he was disappointed by the 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,” Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado wrote on social platform X.

The governor said that he believes Hunter Biden “brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.”

In an interview with CNN on Monday, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) stated that Biden’s pardon could harm the party politically, particularly when President-elect Donald Trump begins nominating his choices for the Department of Justice and FBI.

“I’ve got mixed views about it frankly,” the lawmaker told CNN. “Even though I don’t think Hunter Biden would have been prosecuted under most circumstances, a pardon at this point will be used against, I think, Democrats when we’re pushing to defend the Department of Justice against politicizing it.”

Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) also disagreed with the president’s decision.

“I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong. This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers,” he wrote on X on Sunday evening.

Another Democrat suggested that after Sunday’s decision, there needs to be a change to the pardon power of the president.

“What other father in America has the power to pardon his son or daughter if they’re convicted of a crime?” asked Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) in a CNN interview. “I really think we have to revisit the pardon power in the Constitution.”

President Biden argued late on Sunday that the charges against Hunter Biden were politically motivated, adding that his son has been sober for years.

“There has been an effort to break Hunter—who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution,” he said in a statement released by the White House. “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me—and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

Responding to the pardon, Hunter Biden released a statement on Sunday that he has “admitted and taken responsibility” for mistakes made during a time when he was addicted to drugs.

“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,” he said.

Trump asked a question on social media about pardoning “J-6 hostages,” referring to defendants who have been accused of breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” the president-elect said in a Dec. 2 post on Truth Social.