With all of this pardon talk, can we expect one for Hunter Biden?

And could it conceivably be warranted? I argue yes.

Photo by Suzy Brooks on Unsplash

Two weeks ago, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax-related criminal charges in a Los Angeles federal courtroom. This caused some rumblings about whether his father, President Joe Biden, would pardon him before his term ends. Or if Kamala Harris wins the Oval Office, will she pardon her predecessor’s son?

After the hearing, Hunter Biden’s lawyers told reporters, “Hunter decided to enter his plea to protect those he loves from unnecessary hurt and cruel humiliation.”

It is also possible that Biden chose to plead guilty after the judge in the California case ruled that Biden’s lawyers could not introduce expert testimony about his prior drug addiction or tell the jury that he had already paid back the $2 million owed in taxes. Yet these are precisely the sort of facts that could justify a pardon — were it not for the fact that Biden is also the president’s son.

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Biden entered into an “open plea,” meaning he got nothing in return, and the fate of his sentencing will be left in the hands of the judge with no recommendation from prosecutors. The plea carries a maximum sentence of 17 years. Biden’s sentencing is set for December 16th.

As I pointed out in an article for The Hill, per DOJ guidelines, federal pardons are not supposed to happen until five years after completing a sentence. Other eligibility factors include things like an “individual’s demonstrated ability to lead a responsible and productive life for a significant period,” whether an offense is “very serious,” the “victim impact,” and the individual’s “acceptance of responsibility.” As we saw during the Trump Administration, the President of the United States is not bound by these guidelines.

But if those criteria were applied to Hunter Biden, he arguably qualifies. He has been sober for a while now. The offenses for which he was convicted (he was convicted this summer of separate gun-related charges in Delaware) are relatively trivial. His plea in California shows an acceptance of responsibility.

And the circumstances of his crimes—a tailspin back into addiction after his brother Beau’s death—arguably puts Hunter Biden’s case into history’s primary justification for pardons: mercy.

What did the Los Angeles indictment allege?

Hunter Biden was indicted in December on nine criminal counts, three of which were felonies and six misdemeanors. The indictment stated that the charges allegedly arose from a “four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019.”

Yet, for the 2019 tax year, IRS audit rates for people within Biden’s $1 million to $5 million income range hovered at 1.02 percent.

This suggests that if it weren’t for the fact that he is Joe Biden’s son, the government probably wouldn’t have bothered looking into his taxes. Certainly, a Special Counsel would not have been appointed, which happened under his father’s Justice Department, although the initial probe began under Trump.