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Newsmax's List of the Most Controversial Presidential Pardons

united states presidential history and pardons

Lobby, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California. A portrait of Nixon is seen. Nixon`s presidential library and museum, which is located next to his childhood home and birthplace. (Pamela Brick/Dreamstime.com)

By    |   Monday, 23 December 2024 04:24 PM EST

On Dec. 1, President Joe Biden granted his son Hunter a full pardon of all crimes he may have committed, whether known or unknown, from Jan. 1, 2014 through Dec. 1, 2024 — 10 years, 11 months, one day.

This was unquestionably the most controversial presidential pardon in U.S. history.

It covers the period when Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, a position he is believed to have held to engage in influence peddling.

His father was vice president at that time, and withheld an aid package to Ukraine until the government fired a prosecutor looking into Burisma’s shady business dealings.

We know this because then-Vice President Biden bragged about it at the time.

But the pardon created a huge problem.

If Hunter is called to testify about his family’s activities, he can no longer plead the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify, because he’s in no criminal jeopardy.

Although this was the most controversial presidential pardon, it’s not the only one.

Here are others, from the earliest to the latest:

George Washington: Before leaving office, America’s first president pardoned members of the Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection). This was a violent protest of a federal tax imposed on spirits. The rebellion lasted from 1791 to 1794.

Farmers in Western Pennsylvania, who routinely distilled their excess grain into whiskey, protested the tax, which was assessed to pay off federal debt incurred during the Revolutionary War.

Two Pennsylvania farmers, Philip Weigel and John Mitchell, were sentenced to be executed by hanging for treason as participants in the Whiskey Rebellion.

Washington granted them clemency instead.

Andrew Jackson: Jackson pardoned George Wilson for stealing mail and placing a U.S. mail carrier in danger in the process.

But in a surprise move Wilson rejected the president’s pardon.

The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that pardons were capable of being rejected. Wilson was later hung for his crime.

James Buchanan: After the short-lived Missouri Mormon War of 1838, engaged by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) and U.S. soldiers, Buchanan offered the group a pardon conditioned upon their acceptance of the United States as their sovereign state.

The Mormons, under the leadership of Brigham Young, accepted the offer and then moved to Utah to escape religious persecution.

Andrew Johnson: Johnson assumed office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

In what may have been the second-most controversial pardon in U.S. history, Johnson pardoned 13,000 former members of the Confederate States of America who had petitioned for a pardon.

Like Buchanan’s pardon of the Mormons, it was conditional. They had to first declare their allegiance to the United States.

Gerald Ford: In a move that helped to end his political career, Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, for any crimes he had "committed or may have committed or taken part of” as a result of the Watergate scandal.

Nixon resigned a month earlier because of Watergate. Although he hadn’t participated in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in the Watergate complex, and there’s no evidence that he had prior knowledge of the break-in, Nixon attempted to cover those activities up. That was his undoing.

But Nixon’s resignation wasn’t enough for his political enemies — they demanded his prosecution, and Ford put an end to it with the pardon.

Bill Clinton: On his last day in office, Clinton pardoned billionaire Marc Rich for making fraudulent oil deals and neglecting to pay more than $48 million in federal taxes. Rich had been a fugitive from justice for decades prior to his pardon, which made this one especially questionable.

Clinton pardoned nearly 150 people on his last day in office, including his half-brother Roger Clinton of drug charges, and Patty Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst, of robbery. But the Rich pardon was the most controversial. Unlike Roger Clinton and Patty Hearst, Marc Rich never spent a day in prison.

Barack Obama: Although not a full pardon, Barack Obama commuted the remaining 35-year sentence of Chelsea Manning for leaking classified information of U.S. national security activities to WikiLeaks.

Then-House Speaker Paul Ryan called the commutation “outrageous.”

“Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets,” Ryan said in a statement. “This is just outrageous.”

Donald Trump: Trump was criticized for pardoning Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, for tax evasion and witness tampering. Critics likened it to Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich.

But it was all much ado about nothing, as Kushner didn’t flee from justice. He served his sentence.

Joe Biden: Biden’s term in office isn’t over yet. Although his nearly 11-year blanket pardon of his son Hunter is currently the most questionable in history, it may turn out to be the second-most questionable.

Because Hunter can be forced to testify against members of what’s often referred to as "the Biden crime family," rumors are circulating that he may pardon other family members — even himself — before noon, Jan. 20, 2025, when his tenure ends.

President-elect Trump’s senior adviser and former personal lawyer Alina Habba predicted Biden will make a pardon-palooza before he exits the White House.

“He’s going to pardon himself. He’s going to pardon his family, ‘Shifty [Senator-elect Adam] Schiff,’ Nancy Pelosi, and anybody else who had their hands in the cookie jar,” she predicted.

Habba’s prophesy was based on Biden’s demeanor in recent days.

"I’ve never seen him smile so much," Habba said of Biden. "And he’s saying, 'My hands are off, everybody. I’m still sitting here handing out pardons like they’re Tic Tacs, and then we’ll be done, and President Trump will be in, but at least I’ll have protected my own.'"

If it’s true — if Biden pardons himself — it will become the most questionable (and outrageous) pardon in American history.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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Biden’s term in office isn’t over yet. Although his nearly 11-year blanket pardon of his son Hunter is currently the most questionable in history, it may turn out to be the second-most questionable.
burisma, mormons
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2024-24-23
Monday, 23 December 2024 04:24 PM
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