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Hunter Biden’s Blanket Pardon Sparks Controversy: What’s Next for Presidential Clemency?
< < Back toThe blanket pardon of Hunter Biden by his father President Joseph Biden has sparked widespread controversy and there will be more pardons to come before President Biden leaves office in January.
The broad pardoning of his son Hunter Biden for all “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” has been criticized by Republicans, Democrats and the judiciary.
Many argue that the pardon was too sweeping while supporters claim that the broad language was necessary to keep incoming President Donald Trump from bringing additional charges against Hunter Biden.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, the judge in Hunter Biden’s current criminal case, says that the pardon stands “in tension” with the case record and the president’s action “rewrites history.”
Judge Scarsi, however, will dismiss the case because presidential pardons are sanctioned by the U. S. Constitution and have been used by president’s since our country’s founding.
In this episode of Next Witness…Please, retired judges Thomas Hodson and Gayle William-Byers unpack the controversy over the Hunter Biden pardon, compare this to past presidential pardons and look ahead at pardons yet to come.
They also discuss the possibility of President Biden preemptively pardoning former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, Senator-elect from California Adam Schiff, and former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Our judges break down the legal terms: pardons, commutations, parole and preemptive pardons.
Also, they explain the differences between “presidential pardons” and “gubernatorial pardons.”