Well, while many of us were taking a break this holiday weekend, Washington was still busy at work with everything from pardons to cabinet picks.

Here to get us caught up is Tamara Keith of NPR and Leanne Caldwell from the Washington Post.

Amy Walter is away. It's great to have you both here. So Tamma, want to start with you because we've now seen in the aftermath of President Biden pardoning his son Hunter some backlash from his fellow Democrats.

We heard from Colorado Governor Jared Polis earlier. Senator Bennett has weighed in saying he believes Biden put personal interest ahead of duty.

Senator Welsh has said, while it's understandable as a father, he said as the nation's chief executive, it is unwise.

Just your reporting, Tam, show that President Biden weighed these consequences, this potential backlash,

and the precedent that it sets before making this decision.

Certainly several members of his own party have come out to say that they feel like President

Biden, by doing this, is ceding the political high ground on an issue that Democrats have

hit incoming President Trump on.

What I will say is that President Biden spent this last weekend with his family in Nantucket.

This is a family retreat. They get together there every Thanksgiving. And President Biden

has always had a political blind spot when it comes to his family, in particular his son, Hunter,

and the challenges that Hunter has presented to Biden

over the years, the challenges that Hunter Biden's various issues have presented to Biden,

this has always been an area that has been a political blind spot, has been almost off

limits for Biden. I think another issue that this raised

was simply that the White House, President Biden himself and his spokesperson, Corrine Jean-Pierre,

repeatedly said that this wasn't going to happen. A lot of people didn't believe that Biden

really wouldn't ultimately pardon his son, But it, you know, by then

reversing course, that affects the credibility of this White House. Leanne, what about on Capitol

Hill? What are your Democratic sources telling you about their reaction and how this complicates

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