President Joe Biden made up for the collapse of a "sweetheart" plea deal by granting his son "sweeping immunity" from prosecution, respected legal scholar Jonathan Turley said.
Turley commented Sunday night, shortly after Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.
"Joe Biden: 'I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.' Americans may have a more difficult time understanding how a president could repeatedly and adamantly deny that he would issue this pardon when he was running for reelection," Turley wrote on X.
"...It is also notably that, after insisting that these cases were politically motivated, Biden also pardoned for ANY crimes that may have been committed' from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024..."
Turley then reminded followers that a plea deal between Hunter Biden and the Department of Justice only fell apart in 2023 after Delaware U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the proposed agreement.
"...That is precisely the type of sweeping immunity grant that the federal judge balked at in the hearing when the earlier sweetheart deal feel apart. The judge asked the prosecutor if he had ever seen such a deal and he admitted that he had not...," Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, wrote on X.
"...Hunter Biden is hardly the poster child for a victim of over-enforcement of federal laws. He was given a free pass on allegations that he was an unregistered agent and was the personification of influence peddling in Washington...
"...His call to a Chinese businessman hardly speaks to being an innocent hounded by over-zealous prosecutors: 'I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.'"