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Just one day after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Kash Patel as FBI Director, President Joe Biden issued a pardon so broad and sweeping that experts say they haven’t seen anything like it in generations.

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Now, is this to say the pardon itself was issued because of concerns that Patel is poised to run the bureau with integrity and defend true justice? No, of course not. In fact, NBC News reports that the pardon was being discussed back in June.

Did the move help expedite the announcement? And did it possibly cause the language of the pardon to change, especially with Patel and Pam Bondi (Attorney General) being nominated by Trump? Hmmm…

Biden, as you’re well aware by now, issued a “full and unconditional” pardon to his son, Hunter. It is a decision that echoes one of the most controversial presidential acts in American history — the pardon of Richard Nixon by Gerald Ford. 

Politico reports that the pardon is “an extraordinary political act with extraordinary legal breadth.”

Hunter Biden was tried and found guilty of three federal felony charges for falsely denying drug use while possessing a firearm. He was set to be sentenced on December 12th. The three counts carried the potential for up to 25 years in prison, though the punishment for a first-time offender was expected to be less.

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The First Son also pleaded guilty to nine federal tax-related charges in Los Angeles in September. He was scheduled to be sentenced on December 16th. He had faced 17 years in that case.

Biden’s “full and unconditional pardon” addresses “those 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.”

Critics argue that this pardon is not just about protecting Hunter from legal consequences related to his prior convictions but also about safeguarding him from investigations into his controversial business dealings, most notably his tenure on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company. 

Politico points out that the date range of the pardon strategically begins just months before Hunter joined Burisma, suggesting an intent to cover any potential legal issues stemming from those engagements.

“I have never seen language like this in a pardon document that purports to pardon offenses that have not apparently even been charged, with the exception of the Nixon pardon,” former U.S. pardon attorney Margaret Love told the outlet.

“Even the broadest Trump pardons were specific as to what was being pardoned.”

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Biden’s decision is a stark reversal from his public stance. Throughout his presidency, he maintained that he would not interfere with Justice Department decisions, particularly those concerning his family. This change of heart, announced just weeks before he leaves office, raises questions about the integrity of the judicial process regarding political figures and their kin.

It’s not surprising that Biden reversed course on the matter — publicly, anyway. Despite what the White House was saying, he was always going to issue the pardon. It will be interesting to see how the media reacts after being lied to for months on end. If history is any indicator, they’ll reply with a “Thank you, sir. May I have another?”

While Politico’s experts say the Hunter Biden pardon was “deliberately vague” so as to shield the First Son from further investigative action by the Trump administration, the President-elect’s own words seem to indicate such protections would have been unnecessary.

Trump himself has grappled with the possibility of pardoning Hunter if the current president had not, noting that pursuing politico opponents through weaponization of the federal government is a dangerous precedent.

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“Unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what — and Hunter’s a bad boy. There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do is see the laptop from hell,” Trump said.

“But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.”

It’s unlikely Patel would have pursued something Trump believes is “very bad” for the nation. It’s more likely his focus would be on rooting out the deep state actors who weaponized the government for political gain under the Biden-Harris administration.

Ironically, the Hunter pardon offers Trump an opportunity to squash politically motivated prosecutions further, while using the president’s own move as a rationale for doing so. And he’s certainly hinted at that with the hundreds upon hundreds of January 6th defendants in his latest Truth Social posting.

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” he asked.

Samuel Morison, a lawyer focused on clemency, told Politico this gives Trump a justification for pardoning the J6ers.

“It justifies what Trump wants to do,” Morison said. “Now, he was going to do it anyway. But it gives him some political cover. I think some January 6 pardons are probably coming — at least some, maybe all.”

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There are others that are deserving of pardons. Biden’s Justice Department not only jailed mostly peaceful protestors from January 6th, but they also jailed pro-life grandmothers who protested abortion clinics.

Imagine that. Whereas the media wants you to believe Trump is going to weaponize the government to pursue political opponents, he, Patel, and Bondi all have the opportunity to rid these corrupt bureaucracies of the people who actually did so.

If they are unable to drain the swamp, though, Trump as president will likely have to issue similar pardons for himself and family members. With the Democrats, it will just be more of the same if they ever get back into power.