Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter spurs broader discussion on who else should be granted clemency
President Joe Biden has ducked questions on his decision to break his word and pardon his son Hunter, ignoring calls for him to explain his reversal as he was making his first presidential trip to Angola
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's decision to break his word and pardon his son Hunter has spurred a broader discussion about what else he should be doing with the broad clemency powers of the presidency before he leaves office in January, including whether he should be pardoning Donald Trump.
Biden on Tuesday ducked questions about his son, ignoring calls for him to explain his reversal as he was making his first presidential trip to Angola.
He dismissed shouted questions about the matter with a laugh during a meeting with Angolan President João Lourenço at the presidential palace, telling the Angolan delegation: “Welcome to America.” Biden was not scheduled to take questions from the press during his trip to Africa, and he has largely avoided interactions with reporters since President-elect Trump’s victory last month.
Biden’s decision to offer his son a blanket pardon for actions over the past 11 years has sparked a political uproar in Washington, after the president repeatedly had said he would not use his extraordinary powers for the benefit of his family. Biden claimed that the Justice Department had presided over a “miscarriage of justice” in prosecuting his son, using some of the same language that Trump uses to describe his own legal predicaments.
