After Pardoning Hunter, Who’s Next?

After Pardoning Hunter, Who’s Next?

“It is the rule of law alone which hinders the rulersfrom turning themselves into the worst gangsters (Ludwig von Mises)”

In the last day and a half, I’ve read a lot of articles arguing Biden pardoned Hunter in order to protect himself from being implicated in criminal activity. I disagree.  To the contrary, pardoning Hunter and nothing more increases the risk that Biden, as well as many other members of the Biden clan, could be criminally charged.

Hunter’ pardon is so sweeping that he no longer has criminal liability for any federal crimes he committed from January 1, 2014, to December 1, 2024.  He can literally admit to violating every federal law on the books during that time and he cannot be criminally charged for any of them.  As a result, he cannot “incriminate” himself, and therefore, he can no longer invoke the 5th Amendment right to remain silent.  Instead, if called before a grand jury, Hunter would have to answer – truthfully – all questions about any criminal activity during that 11-year period that he has knowledge of.

Why does this matter if he can’t be charged? Because now he can be compelled to give testimony concerning criminal activity involving federal crimes he knows of – including criminal activity involving his father, his uncle, his uncle’s wife, his wife, his brother’s widow, and his nieces.

For example, after Joe Biden’s term expires on January 20, 2025, the DoJ can impanel a grand jury to investigate alleged corruption relating to Hunter’s foreign “business” ventures. They can then subpoena Hunter to testify as to the involvement of his family, friends, and others. If he refuses to appear, or appears but refuses to answer questions, or lies, then he can be charged under federal law and sent to jail – just like Bannon.  Now I’m not saying Hunter would roll on his family, but given the choice of going to jail or sending Pop’s to the pen, well which choice do you think Hunter would take?  Yea, at best it’s a real possibility, and one I think Joe and the rest of the Biden clan would like to avoid.

The only way Joe can avoid the possibility that Hunter would choose diming out his family over going to jail himself, is to pardon the whole Biden clan, or at least a significant number of them.  The only pardon that may be questionable would be Joe pardoning himself.  However, I believe, as do most constitutional scholars, that a President can in fact pardon himself.  Having said that, there’s still a little doubt about whether a President can pardon himself because the Supreme Court has never addressed this question…because no President has yet had the nerve to do so.  Hell, no President has yet had the need to be pardoned.  Well, arguably Nixon had the need to be pardoned, but he did not pardon himself.  Instead, Ford – who became President when Nixon resigned – pardoned him, which at the time was viewed as unseemly at best.

Now you may think Joe doesn’t need a pardon because the Supreme Court in Trump v. United States  (2024) held that a President enjoys far reaching immunity for acts he committed while in office.  However, most, or at least a significant amount of the criminal activity Biden may have been involved in with Hunter occurred prior to him becoming President, and therefore, he is not protected by Presidential immunity.

In short, pardoning Hunter opens the door for the Trump Administration to make him choose between testifying against his family or going to jail for refusing too truthfully do so.  Given this reality, Biden now must choose between (1) pardoning the whole Biden clan, or a significant number of them; or (2) rolling the dice and hoping Trump and/or the new Attorney General does not pursue criminal charges against them.

Given this reality, I believe the chances Biden will pardon a significant number of his family is high.