Joe Biden criticized by some supporters for 'pardoning' son Hunter Biden

Joe Biden has been criticized by some of his own supporters for issuing a pardon to his son Hunter, something he had previously sworn not to grant.

The president's volte face drew predictable criticism from Republicans, led by President-elect Donald Trump, who dubbed it a "miscarriage of justice" and used it to highlight the case of the jailed ringleaders of the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, whom he has suggested he will pardon when he returns to the White House.

Hunter Biden.

Jenna Schoenefeld/The New York Times/Redux

"Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

However, censure from other Democrats - some of whom claimed he had given Trump legitimacy for his own use of the presidential pardon authority - appeared to have more sting.

Jared Polis, Colorado's Democratic governor, claimed Biden jeopardized his own image and legacy.

"While as a father I certainly understand President @JoeBiden's natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country," Polis posted on X.

"This is a horrible precedent that might be utilized by future Presidents and will unfortunately ruin his reputation.

"When you become President, you will serve as the nation's pater familias. Hunter imposed the legal problems on himself, and one may sympathize with his troubles while also understanding that no one is above the law, not even the President or his son."

Hunter Biden was convicted by a Delaware court last June of lying on a weapons license application while addicted to cocaine. He was eventually found guilty of separate tax evasion charges in a California court.

He was scheduled to be sentenced on both crimes this month.

Biden justified his pardon by arguing that Hunter's prosecutions were motivated by "raw politics" and would not have been pursued if his father had not been president.

Greg Stanton, a Democratic House member from Arizona, disputed such interpretation.

"I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong," he said on social media.

"It was not a politically motivated prosecution. Hunter committed offenses and was found guilty by a jury of his peers.

Joe Walsh, an anti-Trump former Republican congressman who backed Biden for president, described the pardon as demoralizing since it allowed Trump to rationalize his own widely criticized pardons of friends and allies.

"This just furthers the cynicism that people have about politics," he said told MSNBC. "That skepticism boosts Trump because he can simply state: 'I'm not a unique danger. Everyone does this. If I do something for my child or son-in-law, Joe Biden does the same thing. I understand, but Biden's decision was selfish and only served to help Trump politically.

Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic magazine argued that the president had damaged the democratic norms he had previously advocated.

"Principles become much harder to defend when their most famous defenders have compromised them flagrantly," he wrote.

"With the pardon decision, like his stubborn insistence on running for a second term he couldn't win, Biden chose to prioritize his own feelings over the defense of his country."

Some Democrats jumped to Biden's defence.

"Hunter. This is the reality. "No US [attorney] would have charged this case given the underlying facts," wrote Eric Holder, the attorney general under Barack Obama, on X.

"Had his name been Joe Smith, the resolution would have been a declination. Pardon is justified."

Jasmine Crocket, a Texas member of the House of Representatives, went further, saying: "Let me be the first to congratulate the President."

"At the end of the day, we know that we have a 34-count convicted felon who is about to walk into the White House," she told MSNBC, alluding to Trump's conviction in a New York court on document falsification charges stemming from hush money given to a porn actor.

In reference to allegations against Trump's cabinet nominees, she added, "For anyone that wants to clutch their pearls now because [Biden] decided to pardon his son, I would say take a look in the mirror because we also know that this cabinet has more people accused of sexual assault than any incoming cabinet probably in the history of America."

Sarah Longwell, another anti-Trump Republican strategist who backed Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, wrote, "'Trump is worse' is never a good argument to justify bad behavior."

"Biden understands it's wrong. That is why he repeatedly promised to avoid doing it. This does not make him the same as Trump. It does not change how thoroughly crooked Trump's current appointments are. It's just wrong, and we should say so lest we forget that right and wrong exist, and that our President's comprehension of them is important.