President Joe Biden just made history — the bad kind — with Sunday night’s sweeping Thanksgiving-weekend pardon of his own son, Hunter Biden. (Talk about trying to bury a story.) The outgoing president made this all way harder than it needed to be on himself, his son, and the justice system.

Stanton argued that by issuing the pardon, Biden missed an opportunity to shore up Americans' waning trust in the justice system.

President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son has left some Democrats fuming over his choice to repeatedly and unequivocally claim that he would never take that step, even though a pardon long appeared possible to Hunter Biden’s legal team.

President Joe Biden ’s decision to pardon his son Hunter may have drawn bipartisan criticism, but it doesn’t seem to be causing nearly as much controversy at home. First lady Jill Biden told reporters Monday that she fully supports her husband’s action.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, reversing his earlier pledge to leave the legal proceedings entirely up to the judicial system. Hunter Biden had pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges and faced upcoming sentencing.

The pardon comes after Biden repeatedly said he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son or commute his son’s sentence. And in his statement, Biden said he was granting the pardon because his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax violations in September and was convicted in a separate case on felony firearms-related charges. He could have faced decades in prison, though his upcoming sentencing was likely to be a much less severe punishment.