In what might be the greatest subtweet of 2024, outgoing Democratic congressman Dean Phillips spoke for many Americans when he posted on X: “Let’s just say the quiet part out loud, certain Americans are indeed above the law and influence is always for sale.”
Phillips was, of course, responding to the big news on Sunday that President Joe Biden had pardoned his son Hunter—something he had repeatedly vowed he would never do. In the “grant of clemency” Biden issued, he said that Hunter was off the hook “For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
Every president hands out pardons at the end of his time in office—but not like this. When Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother for a 1985 felony drug conviction, Roger Clinton had already served a year in prison. The current president pardoned his son before he was even sentenced.