Biden pardon sets a bad example, and it might help Miami’s ex-Proud Boy leader | Opinion

With his resounding victory, President-elect Donald Trump might not need an excuse to issue pardons for the people convicted of crimes in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. But President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son Hunter might have just given Trump the cover to do so with less political backslash — and with more dire implications for the country and Florida in particular.

For Biden, who spent the last four years vowing to defend American democratic institutions from the credible threat that Trump represents, this move damages his legacy. In this case, Biden chose his own family over the country. It was the wrong thing to do, not just because he put self-interest first but because it sets a terrible example.

The Sunshine State has been, at least at one point, home to the largest number of people arrested in relation to Jan. 6. Among them is Miami’s former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, sentenced to 22 years last year for seditious conspiracy and other crimes in connection to what prosecutors described as a violent plot to overturn the 2020 elections. Also from Florida is Kelly Meggs, state leader of the militia group the Oath Keepers, sentenced to 12 years and accused of storing weapons in a hotel outside Washington, D.C., in case they were needed during the invasion. Just last month, two other Florida men were arrested for allegedly using deadly or dangerous weapons on law enforcement officers, among other charges, during the attack.

As of August, more than 1,488 people had been charged in nearly all 50 states in connection to Jan. 6 and 944 defendants received sentences for their criminal activity, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.

The pardon of Hunter Biden was certainly nepotism, but even worse is the possibility that the resulting lack of accountability for those convicted of violent crimes related to an attempt to reverse the results of a presidential election could embolden others who are willing to use force to advance their political causes.

Trump has repeatedly tried to downplay the Jan. 6 violence, when 140 police officers were assaulted, so pardoning at least some of those involved would further help him paint them and himself as “hostages” of a judicial system controlled by Democrats. In fact, after Biden pardoned his son, Trump posted on social media: “Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages?”

Trump, at least, has hinted at what he might do to get Jan. 6 rioters off the hook, whereas Biden went back on his word to the American people.

Presidential pardons of people connected to the White House are not uncommon. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton pardoned his brother and Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, whom he has now tapped to be ambassador to France.

The difference this time is that Biden said many times that he would hold himself to a higher standard. “I will not pardon him,” he said in June when Hunter Biden was convicted, NBC News reported.

Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on federal gun charges and tax evasion later this month. Some experts have said the pardon was an unusually broad use of executive clemency given that it covered any federal crimes “he committed or may have committed” between Jan. 1, 2014, through the end of the year.

This is also going to make it harder for Biden and Democrats to continue to defend the judiciary system that brought charges against both Hunter Biden and Trump.

In a statement released Sunday, Biden said, “I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” Trump has similarly accused prosecutors and investigators of targeting him. His lawyers are already using Biden’s own argument to ask the courts to throw out Trump’s conviction in New York over a hush-money scheme.

Biden’s pardon was a gift from a lame-duck president to his family. But with his action, the president has made it a whole lot harder for his party and the justice system to hold the Jan. 6 attackers, and others, to account.

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