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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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President Joe Biden's decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden over federal gun and tax convictions has been praised by a former Watergate prosecutor.
Jill Wine-Banks said she was "relieved and thrilled" that President Biden has pardoned his son, adding that the gun charges in particular against Hunter Biden should never have been brought.
President Biden announced on Sunday that he will issue a full pardon for Hunter Biden after the latter was convicted on gun and tax charges, for which he was due to be sentenced this month. In a statement, President Biden said Hunter Biden was "singled out only because he is my son—and that is wrong."
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Speaking to MSNBC, Wine-Banks said Hunter Biden would not have been prosecuted for his gun charges "but for his last name." Hunter Biden was found guilty by a Delaware jury in June of illegally buying a gun while using drugs and lying on a government form about his drug use when he made the purchase in May 2018. He denied the charges, arguing he was not an active drug user at the time he bought the firearm, as he had recently undergone a stint in rehab.
Wine-Banks also said President Biden should issue preemptive pardons for a number of people, including himself and special counsel Jack Smith, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump reentering the White House. Trump has faced accusations that he will use the Department of Justice to target his political enemies.
Newsweek has contacted the White House, Trump's transition team and Hunter Biden's lawyer for comment via email.
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Discussing the pardon during an appearance on MSNBC, Wine-Banks said: "I am relieved and thrilled that [President Biden] did it. I think this was one of those cases that called out for clemency.
"Hunter Biden, first of all, would not have ever been prosecuted for the gun crime but for his last name. Second of all, he was addicted, and that was a cause of his actions. He is now sober for many years, and this is a time when it is really appropriate for a grant of clemency.
"I hope President Biden will also issue preemptive pardons to all of those people threatened by the injustice of what will become the Department of Justice in the Trump administration," Wine-Banks added.
"That, of course, includes Jack Smith and all of his staff, many Department of Justice lawyers. It includes President Biden himself, although we don't know that anyone can legally pardon themselves. He will need a pardon because he is going to be harassed and charged for no crimes whatsoever. Donald Trump has promised that."
Hunter Biden was due to be sentenced for the federal gun charges on December 12. He was also scheduled to be sentenced on December 16 after pleading guilty to failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg said on Sunday: "As SDNY [South District of New York] Criminal Division Deputy Chief, I was responsible for approving charges and non-prosecution requests. I wouldn't have approved Hunter Biden's tax or gun cases. If Hunter's last name wasn't Biden, I don't believe he would have been charged. His pardon is justified."
Barbara McQuade, who was U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan during the Barack Obama administration, said: "The pardon of Hunter Biden is in the best interests of justice. Based on the facts, most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him."
While several other legal experts have praised President Biden's decision to pardon his son, it has also been met with scrutiny.
Trump said the move was an "abuse and miscarriage of justice" in a post on Truth Social.
Steven Cheung, Trump's communications director, told Newsweek: "The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system."
Attorney Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who has been supportive of Trump in his legal cases, said President Biden had "shredded any residue of veracity and credibility" now that he has pardoned his son weeks before he leaves office.
In 1974, Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign from office due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal.
The president was found to have been part of a cover-up of his administration's role in the 1972 break-in at the Democratic Party's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Nixon resigned in disgrace amid a possible impeachment hearing but was later pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.
Biden's pardoning of his son covers any crime or offense he may have committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024. This period is double the five-year grace period Ford gave Nixon.
"For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They'll be fair-minded," President Biden said in his statement.
"Here's the truth: 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—and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further," he added.
"I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."
Trump issued several pardons to his allies just before he left the White House in January 2021, including for political strategist Roger Stone and former campaign manager Paul Manafort as well as for Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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