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With regard to the question regarding the family, I'm extremely proud of my son Hunter.

He has overcome an addiction.

He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know.

And I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said

I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him. That was President Joe Biden

speaking this past June, promising not to do what he just actually did. Hello and welcome to the

excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday,

December 12, 2024, and this is a special episode of the excerpt. Foundational principle of the

U.S. Constitution is the idea that no one is above the law. And yet the power of the presidential

pardon based on the embrace of the concepts of mercy and amnesty essentially guarantees that in fact a select few are actually not held accountable for crimes they've been found guilty of.

President Joe Biden's sweeping pardon of his son Hunter after repeatedly promising he wouldn't is a case in point.

Hunter was pardoned not just for the federal crimes he

was convicted of or pled guilty too, but for crimes that he may have committed and not yet been

prosecuted for. What can the historical use of this awesome power tell us about how we should

judge this political inflection point? To dig into this complex and politically fraught topic,

I'm now joined by USA Today Justice Correspondent, Bart Jansen. Bart, thanks for joining me.

Thanks for having me. I want to begin with a bit of history regarding the pardoning of family members.

Before President Biden pardoned his son Hunter, were there other presidents who

pardoned their relatives? Yeah, there were a couple of occasions when there were similar moves.

Former President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, who had been convicted

...