What is unusual is the time period for which the pardon was given.
On September 6, 2024, Hunter Biden, the only surviving child of 46th President of the US Joe Biden pleaded guilty to all charges brought against him by the Justice Department and others connected with the Justice system. From that time onwards, it was clear that he would secure a Presidential pardon for all the crimes mentioned by the prosecution, for otherwise he would have to have gone to jail for the rest of Biden’s lifespan, not a pleasant prospect for any father as devoted as Biden is to Hunter. There were three children from Biden’s marriage to Neilia Hunter, two sons and a daughter. His wife and his youngest child, a daughter, were killed in a car accident in 1972. His first instinct was to call off his campaign to become the junior US Senator from Delaware, so shattered was he at the tragedy. Family and friends argued with him that he should instead soldier on. It is said that his two young sons, Beau and Hunter, who had been injured but not killed in the crash, joined in saying that their father should make a run for the Senate, his first. So young was he that when he was elected, he was below the age when a US citizen can become a Senator, but as he would have crossed that milestone by the time he was sworn in the next year, he was allowed to run, and won, winning every election thereafter until he was tapped by Barack Obama as his Vice-Presidential candidate in 2008. According to Obama, he chose Biden as his running mate “because we could not have been more different”, hardly a strident endorsement. Biden proved a loyal Veep, doing whatever odd jobs were allocated to him by the Oval Office until Obama stepped down and Biden decided to leave the candidacy of the Democratic nominee for President to Hillary Clinton in 2016. The Bidens and the Clintons were, and remain, close to one another. Hillary lost to Trump, and in 2020, made way for Biden as the candidate, who won. As the 46th President of the US, Biden lost no opportunity to avenge Hillary on what she called a “stolen” election by his Justice Department doing all they could to send Trump to jail. In the process, a revived Donald Trump won the Republican nomination and won. On January 20, 2025, he will be sworn in as the 47th President of the US, after having been the 45th. He has said that although eligible to serve two consecutive terms, this would be his last term in the Presidency
What is unusual is the time period for which the pardon was given. The ten years cover the period which spans the payments to Hunter from both Ukraine and China through various entities. As a consequence, Hunter Biden being pardoned cannot be questioned over how he earned millions of US dollars from Burisma in Ukraine and Chinese entities when he had no obvious qualifications for meriting such munificence. And Hunter Biden is the only witness potentially able to place the blame on then Vice-President Biden for being the reason for such payments. Should anyone ask Hunter, he can invoke Fifth Amendment and keep silent, aware that he cannot be prosecuted for any potentially criminal acts such as accepting bribes for favours granted through his father during this period. Of course, it may well be that Hunter has gifts that are as yet unseen by others, and which is why he earned such large sums from Ukrainian and Chinese entities. What is clear is that President Biden has been the key driver of the anti-Russia push since 2012 by NATO through using Ukraine as bait. As for China, he has been lenient when compared to what some of the Trump Cabinet picks favour, but has not been entirely passive either. What his opinions were on several issues connected to China and Ukraine to President Obama remain unknown. As for Presidential pardons, every US President has done likewise, even Donald Trump with 237 pardons given during his term. It is a broad power, but provided it is made transparently, it would be difficult to make a case for limiting such a power. Indeed, the President of India also has the same power to pardon, as do several other Heads of State. Sadly, Biden is leaving behind a legacy ridden with missteps, such as the tacit backing given to the Wahhabi takeover of parts of Syria and the consequent surfacing of Al Qaeda and Daesh groups in that country. The Ukraine adventure has been a political disaster for the leaders of NATO, and for their countries, an economic one as well, especially for Germany.
It is easy for fellow Democrats to speak ill of Biden for the Hunter pardon, but if they were in a similar situation, how many of them would sacrifice the rest of their lives to public shame by avoiding such a pardon? Self-preservation is the basic instinct of life forms, and human beings are no exception, save in a few cases. President Biden has ensured that he can spend the rest of his life in the company of his son, whom he adores, while at the same time stymying any effort at getting at the truth as to whether pecuniary considerations had any role in his actions on China and Ukraine, both as Vice-President and as President of the US. By pardoning Hunter, Biden has in effect pardoned himself as well.