A Delaware federal judge formally dismissed the case against President Biden's son Hunter this morning following the president's sweeping pardon.

Some legal analysts have expressed concerns that the president's pardon of his son gives President-elect Trump a roadmap to protect his political allies.

Mr. Trump hinted on social media yesterday he would do so, saying, quote, does the pardon given by Joe two Hunter include the J6 hostages?

Kyle Cheney, Politico's senior legal affairs reporter, has been following the fallout of the president's pardon and the impact it could have on a second Trump term.

Kyle, welcome back. Thanks for being with us.

Good to be with you. Thanks for having me.

So let me start with those January 6th cases here, which I know you've been following closely,

just to bring people up to date. So far, some 1,500 people have been charged, more than 1,500. Nearly

1,000 have pleaded guilty. More than 600 have been sentenced to jail time. So to this question,

Kyle, what kind of impact could the Biden pardon for his son Hunter have on those cases?

I mean, in theory, it shouldn't have a connection. But I think what you're seeing is a reaction

from Trump's ally saying, look, if he's going to pardon his son, you know,

basically for personal reasons, then why shouldn't Donald Trump exercise his sweeping pardon

authority in the same sort of political way? Now, look, Trump has signaled that he planned

to pardon many of these people, these January 6 defendants, for months, if it's a big part of his campaign.

But does this emboldened him to go further and maybe make that pardon more expansive and more

complete for either the larger group or for the alleged crimes that they committed?

That's the question as to what the impact might be.

And you've been covering these cases so closely.

I mean, if some kind of blanket pardon like that was issued, what would be the impact?

How would that be perceived?

I mean, it would be fairly seismic.

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