CNN’s top legal expert has predicted that President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter will serve as a stain on his legacy.
During Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “News Central,” Elie Honig, the network’s senior legal analyst, said Hunter’s pardon “will tarnish Joe Biden’s legacy.”
As Slay News previously reported, Biden announced Sunday night that he has given his son Hunter a blanket pardon for all crimes.
It comes after Biden insisted for months before he ended his presidential campaign that he would not pardon his son for federal tax and gun crimes.
Even after he dropped out of the race, the president insisted that he let justice prevail.
However, Biden has now pardoned his son, under a month since Election Day.
BREAKING: Pres. Biden issues statement on his decision to issue a pardon for son Hunter Biden: "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision." https://t.co/RLEvavZmg2 pic.twitter.com/3YPUUXmfWf
— ABC News (@ABC) December 2, 2024
The blanket pardon protects Hunter Biden from prosecution for all crimes, even those he hasn’t been accused of, yet.
JUST IN: Hunter Biden's blanket pardon is sweeping and covers any crimes he committed or “may have committed" for an 11-year period. pic.twitter.com/5eEBjJFZD3
— You Are The Media Now (@UAreMedia) December 2, 2024
Responding to the news, Honig said:
“There has long been a fair debate — fair on both sides — about whether Hunter Biden is being treated overly leniently or overly zealously because of his status as Joe Biden’s son I think there are points to both sides of that.
“But what I think is not disputable is that this is a historic act of political nepotism.
“Joe Biden even says, if you really parse his statement, he acknowledges that a substantial part of this is because Hunter Biden is his son and that will land Joe Biden on a historic list that he probably doesn’t want to be a part of, along with Bill Clinton, who pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, along with Donald Trump, who pardoned Charles Kushner, who is the father of his own son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
“So I’m sure Joe Biden understands the historic implications of what he’s done and now he’s earned his way onto that list.”
“This pardon will tarnish Joe Biden’s legacy,” he continued.
“I mean, Joe Biden, let’s be clear here, he lied to us for a long time.
“He said categorically, ‘I will not pardon my son.’
“He said I will take it off the table.
“And he couched it in very high-minded terminology, ‘I respect the Justice Department. I respect the jury’s verdict.’
“Well, now he’s gone back on that.”
“But as to whether this tarnishes the justice system, I don’t think I would go that far,” Honig added.
“I think this, like I said, will go down on the list of ignominious presidential pardons.
“But I don’t think law students 50 or 100 years from now are going to look back at this as a horrific miscarriage of justice that undermines the foundation of our justice system.
“There is a reasonable argument that in some respects, Hunter Biden was treated unfairly.
“And I think that will give Joe Biden some degree of cover.”
WATCH:
READ MORE – Joe Biden Pardoned Son Hunter to Save Himself, White House Insider Reveals
