Biden May Be Forced To Use Extreme Measure to Keep Son Hunter Out of Prison: Legal Expert
George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley thinks the time may come, and soon, for President Joe Biden to act if he wants to keep his son, Hunter Biden, out of prison.
Turley, in a column for The Messenger, laid out a “break the glass” option for the president in the case of a conviction. The analysis comes on the heels of a court appearance by Hunter on Wednesday, during which he was simply expected to plead guilty to a couple of tax-related misdemeanors while a third gun-related charge would be deferred for two years and then dropped altogether if he remained drug-free.
The sweetheart plea bargain collapsed, however, in a Wilmington, Del., federal courthouse after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the blanket immunity from any future prosecution the agreement contained.
U.S. Attorney David Weiss had recommended probation with no jail time and, under questioning from Noreika, federal prosecutors denied the agreement contained any immunity from future prosecution clauses such as violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
After federal prosecutors said that told the judge that future charges related to alleged actions taken by Hunter Biden in violation of FARA statutes could be coming, his attorneys became unnerved.
“Rip it up!” Biden’s attorney Christopher Clark said in reference to the plea deal, according to ABC News.
“As far as I’m concerned, the plea agreement is null and void,” he added, to audible gasps in the courtroom, according to reports. Hunter Biden then pleaded not guilty to the tax charges.
The Western Journal then noted the implications on the first family if the case does go to trial:
Conceivably the case could go to trial and Biden could be convicted. And during the course of the trial, many embarrassing revelations about President Joe Biden could emerge, particularly given recent whistleblower testimony before the House Oversight Committee.
The president and Hunter Biden have each been accused of taking $5 million bribes from the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma while the elder Biden was vice president, according to an FBI whistleblower form viewed by the Oversight Committee.
Joe Biden could use his presidential pardon power to make all this go away.
That won’t stop an impeachment by the GOP-controlled House, though Biden would never be convicted in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Still, Hunter’s foibles will be a lot of political baggage for his father, which Turley addressed in his column.
The “break the glass option,” then, becomes this, Turley noted: “Joe Biden could pardon his son and then announce that he will not run for reelection.”
“Facing an impeachment inquiry, low public support, and a son in the legal dock, Biden could use the case to close out his political career,” Turley noted.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy noted that an impeachment inquiry is increasingly likely given what he says is a growing amount of corruption evidence supplied to GOP-controlled committees by federal whistleblowers from the FBI and IRS. One of the accusations against Biden is that he took a bribe from a Ukrainian official when he was vice president; bribery is specifically mentioned as an impeachable offense in the Constitution.
Turley wrote that a Biden “pardon would be what I consider another abuse of the pardon power for personal benefit.” He went on to compare it to when then-President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, over drug offenses on his last day in office, Jan. 20, 2001.
Biden could do the same by acknowledging that the pardoning of his son is a form of raw self-dealing. However, as he has said throughout the scandal, he loves his son and blames his crimes on his struggle with addiction and grieving,” Turley said.
“With that, Biden could bow out of the election without admitting (as many on both sides are saying) that old age has taken its toll on his mental and physical capacity. He would end his political career with an act as a father, which some would condemn but most would understand.”
The law professor pointed out that Biden could even give Hunter a “preemptive or prospective pardon” that “would effectively end any federal investigation.”
