Hunter Biden’s pardon is the latest in a long list of controversial White House immunity decisions.
Still, President Joe Biden’s unconditional, full absolution of his son is different in one unprecedented way: No commander-in-chief has ever granted clemency to his child, according to experts.
While former President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., of a drug conviction on his last day in office in 2001 and President-elect Donald Trump did the same for his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, of tax evasion and witness tampering convictions in the final days of his first term, Biden has broken new ground in presidential pardon history, experts told ABC News.
“This is a first,” said Jeffrey Crouch, an assistant professor of American politics at American University and author of the book “The Presidential Pardon Power.”
“In terms of the legal side of things, the president has the power to grant clemency to just about anybody he wants.”
Under a section called the “Commander-in-chief clause,” Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution says the president “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”
