Flash, bam, alakazam — a pardon dropped out of an autumnal, orange-colored sky, as surreal as a Nat King Cole refrain.  With a sweep of his pen, Joe Biden erased his son’s slate, leaving decades of potential wrongdoing wiped clean as if by magic.

This was no ordinary pardon.  It stretched back conveniently to just before Hunter Biden joined the Burisma board and extended through December 1, 2024 — a timeline so broad that even Hunter might have struggled to list all the offenses it covered.

The Legacy Media’s Complicity

The legacy media gleefully played its part in selling this debacle.  For months, they parroted Biden’s claims that he would never pardon his son.  Anchors and pundits praised the president’s supposed integrity, spinning tales of a leader torn between family loyalty and his duty to justice.  Yet, as the DOJ prepared this sweeping pardon, these same outlets did not ask why Biden’s words didn’t match his administration’s actions.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the legacy media to investigate how long this plan had been in motion.  To them, digging into Biden’s actions would mean veering off-script from their endless critiques of Trump’s Cabinet nominees.  Why tackle something difficult when they can just stay in their comfort zone of partisan spin?

Family Loyalty — or Just Politics?

Joe Biden clearly prioritized his children more than anything else — at least some of them.  Just ask Hunter.  Or better yet, ask Hunter’s daughter in Arkansas, whom the president finally acknowledged in 2023 after years of silence.  Despite this late acknowledgment, she seemingly still waits in vain for a Christmas stocking at the White House.  Not since Grover Cleveland’s opponents chanted, “Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa?” has a child faced such blatant exclusion from presidential family life.  The refrain now might as well be, “Ma, Ma, where’s my Grandpa?”  Biden spends his time bailing out one child while offering little more than a fleeting nod to another.

For all his talk about justice and decency, Biden’s actions told a different story.  This pardon wasn’t about love for his son.  It was about shielding himself from the political fallout of a son who couldn’t stay out of trouble.  The real loyalty here wasn’t familial; it was strategic.  Biden didn’t step aside when Democrats replaced him as their nominee because family business remained unfinished.  He couldn’t trust Kamala Harris to handle it, and he knew time was running out.

Merrick Garland’s DOJ: Biden Family Legal Services

And then there is Merrick Garland, who ran the Department of Justice like a family law firm for the Bidens.  Garland refused to appoint a genuinely independent special counsel team in this case, instead staffing it with DOJ employees, ensuring the administration controlled the narrative.  His DOJ mishandled Hunter’s legal troubles for years, from offering a sweetheart plea deal to standing by as this sweeping pardon was issued.  According to The New York Times, Hunter’s case wouldn’t even qualify for a pardon under normal DOJ protocols.

DOJ guidelines require that pardon applicants demonstrate rehabilitation, show acceptance of responsibility, and have completed their sentence — standards Hunter could not possibly meet, given his ongoing legal woes and unresolved investigations.  Yet Garland didn’t just bend the rules; he let them snap entirely to accommodate the president’s son.

This wasn’t just incompetence.  Garland worked deliberately to protect the president’s family at all costs.  His refusal to allow the DOJ to operate independently destroyed public trust in the justice system.  Mr. Garland undoubtedly greenlit this sweeping pardon, for if he didn’t, he would resign immediately in protest.

Thankfully, Garland’s tenure at the DOJ will end on January 20 of next year, and not a moment too soon.  His departure will finally close the chapter of a justice system bending to the will of the Biden family.

A Chilling Message for America

Hunter Biden’s slate may now appear clean, but this pardon doesn’t erase his political liabilities.  He can no longer plead the Fifth if called to testify before Congress, and Garland’s departure removes the safety net shielding him from subpoenas or charges of lying under oath.  Joe Biden may think he has closed this chapter, but all he has done is open a new one.  Congress and the public will write the next pages, and they won’t go easy.

This isn’t just about the Bidens.  This moment defines what happens when power goes unchecked.  The rule of law bends, twists, and eventually breaks for those at the top, while staying cold and unyielding for everyone else.  Winter is coming, and no amount of presidential magic will keep the chill at bay.

The Biden family may believe they’ve insulated themselves from accountability, but this pardon reeks of desperation.  The orange-colored sky may have delivered a pardon, but the storm clouds gathering on the horizon suggest that this story is far from over.

Charlton Allen is an attorney and former chief executive officer and chief judicial officer of the North Carolina Industrial Commission.  He is the founder and editor of The American Salient and the host of The Modern Federalist podcast.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.