(NewsNation) — The White House has continued to say that President Joe Biden has no plans to pardon his son, Hunter Biden. Yet, several political analysts don’t believe the president will leave office without doing so, claiming Biden has nothing to lose now that he isn’t running for reelection.
On NewsNation’s “The Hill,” a political panel discussed the possibility that Joe Biden would pardon Hunter Biden, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges Thursday in Los Angeles. He was also convicted in a separate criminal case in June.
NewsNation’s Blake Burman questioned the credibility of Joe Biden’s repeated statements against pardoning his son, suggesting that no parent in the country believes him. A. Scott Bolden, a NewsNation political contributor and former Washington, D.C., Democratic Party chairman, agreed.
Would Harris pardon Hunter Biden?
However, Bolden suggested that if Vice President Kamala Harris were to win the presidency, she could pardon Hunter Biden early on in her administration without major repercussions. So, while the president might not pardon his son, Harris could, he said.
“If she pardons him early in her administration, that would be best. Not when she starts to run for reelection,” Bolden said.
Hunter Biden has a lot of Democratic support, especially since several party lawmakers believe that Republican pressure forced further prosecution. Bolden said if it weren’t for being the president’s son, Hunter Biden’s charges would have never been filed.
“There are a lot of Democrats who believe that, but for him being Hunter Biden, these charges never would have been brought. It was the Republican pressure from the House and Senate that forced further prosecution of Hunter Biden,” Bolden said.
Democratic strategist Laurie A. Watkins disagreed that pardoning Hunter Biden would be something Harris would be willing to do if she were elected president, especially since she’s anticipating political backlash to such a move.
“I don’t think that she’d (Harris) really want to do something like that,” Watkins said. “She anticipated that there would be any political backlash — that they would start opening up investigations. That would completely dilute the beginning of her term.”
Joe Biden has nothing to lose: Gidley
Hunter Biden’s sentencing in the tax case has been scheduled for December, which lands a month after the 2024 election and just before the 2025 inauguration of the elected president. Hogan Gidley, a White House deputy press secretary during the Trump administration, suggested Joe Biden could pardon his son then without repercussions.
“That’s after the election but before the inauguration of the next president. So, he could theoretically do this on the way out and it causes no political harm to him or Kamala Harris,” Gidley said.
Regardless of who is elected, T.W. Arrighi, a former communications aide to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., suggested the next president should pardon Hunter Biden if his father does not do it before the end of his term.
“Whoever the next president is should turn the page on the whole thing and show the grace of pardoning him,” Arrighi said. “I actually believe that it would make Trump look high above it, and Harris would have the political capital to expend.”