I don’t fault President Joe Biden for pardoning his son Hunter. That’s why parents aren’t allowed to negotiate with terrorists. Parents would give away the nuclear codes to help a child who is facing an execution. Others may die because parents give millions of dollars to save a child held by a terrorist, but a parent can’t see the consequences of their actions. They are singly focused on saving their own child.

Biden did the same thing for his child in a way. Facing certain jail time, Hunter Biden was not a hostage, but he was found guilty of several federal crimes.

Maybe a president should not have the power to pardon his or her own family, but to change that would take a Constitutional amendment.

In his statement giving Hunter Biden a pardon for every federal offense known or unknown between Jan. 1, 2014 and now, President Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice …”

If Biden believes the system has been infected by politics, then why can’t Donald Trump make the same claim?

Since Biden appointed the leadership of the Department of Justice, it’s hard to say just how politics infected the process. Hunter Biden’s infractions would be prosecuted if anyone else did the same things he did.

That cannot be said about Trump.

The charges against him are what legal experts call “novel.” What they mean by that is these cases have never been presented against anyone before under creative charges and interpretations of the law.

The two New York cases, one civil and one criminal, would never be charged against anyone else but Trump.

The civil case didn’t even have a plaintiff. No one claimed Trump harmed them by claiming what his properties were worth. The banks that loaned him money were all repaid with interest and were willing to do additional loans to the Trump organization. But Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, ran for office claiming she would find something to charge against Trump.

They dug. And dug. And dug. And the best they could find was how Trump valued his properties on loans.

Those same papers told the lenders they should seek their own appraisals.

The New York court rejected expert testimony that stated Trump’s company kept very good records and that the valuations were completely legitimate.

The expert witness was not some Trump insider. The witness had testified in multiple white-collar cases in the same courtroom, and his testimony was the basis for several other rulings.

But not this one. All of a sudden his testimony was biased.

The result was a record-shattering, unprecedented $350 million fine.

When the State of New York brings a case against someone without a plaintiff, without a victim, without precedent for any case very being brought, then it is safe to say that “raw politics” have infected the process.

In the criminal case against Trump, District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who also ran on a platform that he would get Trump, created a charge of Trump misfiling a legal expense to Stormy Daniels even though the statute of limitations had run out on the case, and he used a “novel” claim that Trump did this to benefit his run for office, even though he was already president when the non-disclosure arrangement was legally made, so he could turn a misdemeanor into a felony, and then he duplicated the charge 37 times.

Again, it is clear this was “raw politics” infecting the process.

Trump maintained his innocence, but a jury in the deep blue district found him guilty, giving the Democrats what they wanted – Trump was a convicted felon.

It’s not clear at all whether or not those charges are going to stick. Judge Merchan has granted the Trump defense team a motion to have the charges and the conviction tossed, and even if he eventually denies the motion, it is almost assured that the appellate court will vacate the case.

To this day I still have online exchanges with those who refer to the re-elected president as “convicted felon Donald Trump.”

Justice has nothing to do with either of these judgments. 

Hunter Biden’s convictions for very clear violations of federal law, however, were only skewed in Hunter’s favor. The prosecutor first tried to get Hunter’s charges dismissed in a plea agreement that the judge had never heard before. The DOJ eventually exposed that the wrap on the wrist didn’t apply to all charges, and that led Hunter’s team to withdraw their agreement to pleading guilty to lesser charges.

Did politics come into play? Sure, but in Trump’s case it was against him, and in Hunter’s case it was for him.

The problem is the Justice Department now has two presidents claiming politics have infected the pursuit of justice.

Like any parent, Biden doesn’t care about the fallout. He only wants his son to be protected from jail time.

And he made Trump’s case that the system is rigged for the politically connected and against everyday people.

Trump is appointing people to rid these departments of the abusers while keeping the legitimate agents who truly seek justice.

Trump could not have had a better example than what Biden just did and how he justified his pardon.

Trump believes others have been maliciously prosecuted for political reasons including many who were involved in a riot at the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. Much like Bragg’s attempt to pile on a misdemeanor and turn it into a felony, Biden’s Department of Justice sought to turn a riot into an insurrection.

And they went hard after anyone and everyone they could who was even standing outside that day.

Trump has stated that he would pardon what he called “political prisoners” when he ran for re-election. And he still won the Electoral College and the popular vote.

Now he has the endorsement of Biden to do it and under the exact same circumstances Biden used – raw politics have infected the process.

Earl Watt is the owner and publisher of the Leader & Times in Liberal. Watt started his career in journalism in 1991 at the Southwest Daily Times. During his career, the newspaper has won a total of 17 Sweepstakes awards from the Kansas Press Association for editorial content and 18 Sweepstakes awards for advertising. Watt has been recognized with more than 70 first place awards for writing in categories from sports and column to best front pages, best sports pages and best opinion pages. Watt is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and is the descendant of several patriots who fought for America’s freedom and independence.