To add to your comments on Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter -
Remember that in the process of the trial of Hunter, he agreed to plead guilty to both of the serious charges and as a normal part of prosecution that plea was part of a no-prison time deal. Then an aggressive judge (probably a Trump appointee) set aside the plea-deal and was about to enter a more serious sentence involving serious jail time. Hunter could still change his plea to not-guilty and demand a jury trial, but he had not yet done so. On trial it is likely that Hunter would be found guilty, but the conditions that lead to his crimes would be revealed and submitted to a probation department for sentencing recommendations to the judge. This process was bypassed during negotiations for the plea-deal. Probation departments typically give great consideration to progress the offender has made to change their life patterns including therapy and visible changes. Hunter is just NOT the same man who committed the alleged (not yet proven guilty by a judge or jury of his piers) crimes.
This post is about where I am. I agree he lied and it doesn’t look great. But considering what’s coming, I can’t really blame him for wanting to protect his son from more harassment.
Well said Michael and I agree with all of your case for pardon. To believe that this sets some sort of bad precedent is ridiculous. Biden pardoned his son who he clearly dearly loves. Any president would do the same. Unless it's Trump who might not pardon one of his asshole kids if they pissed him off. In any case the convicted felon president elect will do much much worse than this whether Biden pardoned his kid or not.
He's being accused of avoiding accountability. Really? He was charged, tried, convicted, not to mention having a standard plea bargain yanked out from under him, because accountability was not enough for Republicans.
Trump has already abused the pardon power many times over. Also, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Charles Kushner never showed any remorse (unlike Hunter).
I'm sure President Biden's advisers were no doubt divided on this decision. I must admit I would be a No - no pardon.
To add to your comments on Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter -
Remember that in the process of the trial of Hunter, he agreed to plead guilty to both of the serious charges and as a normal part of prosecution that plea was part of a no-prison time deal. Then an aggressive judge (probably a Trump appointee) set aside the plea-deal and was about to enter a more serious sentence involving serious jail time. Hunter could still change his plea to not-guilty and demand a jury trial, but he had not yet done so. On trial it is likely that Hunter would be found guilty, but the conditions that lead to his crimes would be revealed and submitted to a probation department for sentencing recommendations to the judge. This process was bypassed during negotiations for the plea-deal. Probation departments typically give great consideration to progress the offender has made to change their life patterns including therapy and visible changes. Hunter is just NOT the same man who committed the alleged (not yet proven guilty by a judge or jury of his piers) crimes.
This post is about where I am. I agree he lied and it doesn’t look great. But considering what’s coming, I can’t really blame him for wanting to protect his son from more harassment.
Well said Michael and I agree with all of your case for pardon. To believe that this sets some sort of bad precedent is ridiculous. Biden pardoned his son who he clearly dearly loves. Any president would do the same. Unless it's Trump who might not pardon one of his asshole kids if they pissed him off. In any case the convicted felon president elect will do much much worse than this whether Biden pardoned his kid or not.
He's being accused of avoiding accountability. Really? He was charged, tried, convicted, not to mention having a standard plea bargain yanked out from under him, because accountability was not enough for Republicans.
Trump has already abused the pardon power many times over. Also, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Charles Kushner never showed any remorse (unlike Hunter).
I'm sure President Biden's advisers were no doubt divided on this decision. I must admit I would be a No - no pardon.
Biden's pardon is indefensible
I have no regrets for my support of him, and maintain he had a good presidency. But pardoning his son is wrong, grievously wrong