In the final stretch of his presidency, President Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted on federal gun charges.
But Sunday’s pardon has sparked controversy. Biden repeatedly insisted he would not grant clemency to Hunter, prompting members of Congress and advocates to criticize the president’s U-turn, accusing him of putting his family before the country or pointing to his clemency record.
Hunter marks the 26th person that the president has pardoned since he entered the White House in 2021, records show.
A host of Congress members have urged Biden to pardon certain groups and people in his last 50 days in office.
The White House Press has said more pardons can be expected before Inauguration Day.
Here’s who else Biden could pardon:
Who has Biden pardoned so far?
On Sunday, Biden announced he was pardoning his Hunter, stating his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” by the Justice Department and that “no reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”
The pardon covers offenses Hunter “has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
Before granting clemency to his son, over the past four years the president has issued 25 pardons to others, namely people convicted of drug-related crimes.
In October 2022, Biden also issued a presidential proclamation, pardoning those who committed the federal offense of simple marijuana possession. At the time, CNN reported that while no Americans were serving prison time solely on these crimes, more than 6,500 had been charged with them.
In December 2023, he expanded upon that move, granting clemency to those who committed federal offenses of attempted simple possession of marijuana or use of marijuana.
In June 2024, Biden also issued pardons for veterans who were convicted of a now-repealed military ban on engaging in gay sex. The move was expected to impact about 2,000 former service members, the New York Times reported at the time.
Who has asked?
As Biden’s presidency comes to a close, members of Congress have urged him to issue pardons for certain individuals.
Reps Ayanna Pressley, Jim Clyburn and Mary Gay Scanlon penned a November 20 letter to the president, asking him to use his clemency power to “reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration.”
The lawmakers wrote: “Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges.” Granting clemency will “undoubtedly send a powerful message across the country in support of fundamental fairness and furthering meaningful criminal justice reform,” they added.
“We encourage you to use your clemency powers to help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers,” the trio wrote. The letter was also signed by 64 additional House representatives.
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey also chimed in with his own recommendation: Biden should issue “preemptive pardons” to people Trump has threatened to prosecute.
“I think that without question, Trump is going to try to act in a dictatorial way, in a fascistic way, in a revengeful first year at least of his administration toward individuals who he believes harmed him,” Markey told Boston Public Radio on November 26.
He continued: “If it’s clear by January 19th that that is his intention, then I would recommend to President Biden that he provide those preemptive pardons to people, because that’s really what our country is going to need next year.”
Markey cited Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal as allowing “our country just to close the that chapter and move on to a new era.” The Massachusetts Democrat said Biden could be in a similar situation now, predicting “people will look back and just say that’s what our country wants, it wants to get past the acrimony, the bitterness and moved on to an agenda that deals with the ordinary families and not the Trump family and their grievances to people who tried to prevent them from becoming the occupants of the Oval Office.”
Biden has also pardoned turkeys as part of an annual White House tradition. Ahead of issuing Peach and Blossom pardons this year, the thinktank Prison Policy Initiative criticized Biden’s clemency record toward poultry compared to his clemency record toward inmates on death row.
The president plans on pardoning two more birds “but has made no announcement to grant clemency to the 40 people on federal death row,” the thinktank wrote in a November 22 statement. “Turkey pardons might be a light-hearted tradition, but it’s hard to not think about the dozens of people whose lives will be taken from them by a tax-payer-funded death — all while politicians tout the importance of festive goodwill.”
The statement added: “The death penalty is the cruelest and only permanent punishment in the US. Biden’s days left in office are limited, but it’s not too late for him to spare everyone from federal death row (and cement his legacy for the better).”
So who exactly has Trump threatened to prosecute?
President-elect Donald Trump has not been shy in naming his political adversaries.
Vice President Kamala Harris, his former 2024 rival, could very well be at the top of his “enemies” list.
At a September rally, Trump blasted Harris’s handling of the border crisis. He claimed that people were “murdered because of her action at the border, and thousands more will follow in rapid succession,” adding: “She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.”
In June 2023, Trump also threatened to prosecute Harris’ boss, Joe Biden. He said at the time: “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.”
Trump reposted a Truth Social post calling for “televised military tribunals” of former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who was one of just two Republicans to sit on the House panel investigating the January 6 Capitol riot. The post also claimed she was “guilty of treason.” Cheney later campaigned for Harris during the 2024 presidential election cycle.
Trump has also suggested that his former Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley be “executed” for “treason,” claimed Senator-elect Adam Schiff is a “sleazebag and traitor, and should be prosecuted for the damage he has done to our Country” and insisted former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi be “prosecuted.”
The president-elect has also repeatedly threatened to prosecute the individuals who have prosecuted him. In the past few years, Trump often took aim at special counsel Jack Smith, who was pursuing two federal criminal cases against Trump.
On more than one occasion, Trump has called for Smith to be investigated. At an October rally, Trump suggested Smith should be deported: “Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged. He should be thrown out of the country.”
He has also targeted Letitia James, the New York Attorney General who oversaw Trump’s civil fraud case. Last November in a Truth Social rant, he suggested she “campaigned on ‘getting Trump.’ She should be prosecuted!”
In February, Trump, two of his sons and top executives of the Trump Organization were dealt a $454 million civil fraud judgment. He appealed the ruling. But since his re-election, Trump’s lawyer has asked the New York AG to dismiss the case against him altogether.
None of these individuals have been accused of any wrongdoing.
Granting pardons to those who have not been charged with or convicted of a crime “would be highly unusual,” according to the Justice Department. But a few prominent examples include Ford’s pardon of Nixon and Jimmy Carter’s pardon of Vietnam draft dodgers.