The Hunter Biden Pardon: Mercy, or the Wrong Message?

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Credit…Eric Lee/The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Biden Issues a ‘Full and Unconditional Pardon’ of His Son Hunter Biden” (nytimes.com, Dec. 1):

President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter was, in a word, just. While the jury’s verdict was a fair one, based on the overwhelming evidence of Hunter Biden’s illegal possession of a firearm, the decision to overcharge this victimless crime was, in a word, political.

The overcharging of Hunter Biden was most certainly influenced by a perceived need within the Justice Department to bend over backward to demonstrate its “impartiality.” All prosecutorial decisions are discretionary: If Hunter’s surname were not Biden, the charges and sentencing recommendations would have fit the crime.

It would be inhumane to have expected 82-year-old Joe Biden to have left his only surviving son in the safekeeping of the Trump administration penal system — and subjected, potentially, to other trumped-up charges under the soon-to-be gutted and weaponized Justice Department.

The president’s pardon of his son was merciful and fully justified, given the totality of the circumstances.

Eric Radack
Santa Fe, N.M.

To the Editor:

After months of denying any intention of pardoning Hunter Biden, the president does just what he said he would not do: pardon his son. Most people can understand his pardoning his son; what we cannot accept is being lied to for the past year.

Even worse, President Biden’s comments suggesting that Hunter was prosecuted simply because of politics leaves no room between Mr. Biden’s view and Donald Trump’s view regarding the politicization of the Justice Department.

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