U.S. President Joe Biden's last-minute pardon of his second son, Hunter Biden, ahead of his departure from office has sparked ongoing backlash.
Donald Trump’s transition team criticized the very Department of Justice that Biden called unfair, pointing out that it has also proceeded with indictments against Trump and demanding dismissal of the hush money scandal case.
Amid disappointment within the Democratic Party, House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged Biden to also grant pardons to the working class.
On the 3rd (local time), British daily newspapers The Guardian and The Telegraph reported that Trump’s legal team cited Hunter’s pardon as a reason in their motion to dismiss the hush money scandal case.
The legal team argued that when President Biden announced Hunter’s pardon, he stated that Hunter was "selectively and unfairly prosecuted," and claimed that the Department of Justice Biden criticized was the very same DOJ conducting a political witch hunt against Trump.
Trump has long claimed to be a "victim of selective prosecution," and Biden’s statement that Hunter’s indictment was political has given Trump’s team grounds to revive this claim.
The legal team urged that Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor who indicted Trump, "was involved in exactly the kind of political decision that President Biden criticized," and called for dismissal of the charges.
Trump was indicted for allegedly paying former adult film actress Stormy Daniels to suppress disclosures about their sexual encounter just before the 2016 presidential election.
Although a guilty verdict was reached in this case, the sentencing was postponed after Trump’s reelection in this election, and the judge requested the defense to submit a written motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Trump’s legal team argued in the motion that if the lawsuit continues, it would violate presidential immunity and cause confusion in the presidential system.
However, the Manhattan prosecutor’s office agreed to postpone sentencing until the end of Trump’s term but maintains that the guilty verdict should not be overturned nor the case dismissed.
Meanwhile, criticism continues within the Democratic Party that President Biden has undermined trust in the judicial system.
Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said, "We need to have trust in an independent judiciary, but that trust is lacking," and expressed deep concern about how to move forward.
Majority Leader Jeffries called for case-by-case pardons for working-class individuals whose lives have been ruined by unfair and aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent crimes, urging that pardons for some working-class people be granted as well.
Last month, 60 Democratic lawmakers requested President Biden to exercise his pardon power for federal prisoners, noting that 90% of those incarcerated were imprisoned for nonviolent crimes.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
