House Democrat: We should revisit pardon power in Constitution
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) spoke out after President Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter on Sunday, saying the decision sparks a conversation about revisiting the pardon power in the Constitution.
“As a father myself and as someone who knows Joe Biden I can sympathize with his perspective,” he said on CNN on Monday. “Having said that, what other father in America has power to pardon his son or daughter if they’re convicted of a crime?”
“I really think we have to revisit the pardon power in the Constitution,” he added. “At the very least, we’ve got to circumscribe it so that you don’t get to pardon relatives, even if you believe passionately that they’re innocent or their cause is just.”
He referenced President-elect Trump’s pardon of his son-in-law's father Charles Kushner, who Trump recently named as the U.S. ambassador to France, calling that pardon an “abuse of power.”
Connolly also added that he disagreed with the sweeping power of the pardon, suggesting a constitutional amendment should be implemented to enumerate the pardon power’s limits.
President Biden issued a “full and unconditional” pardon for Hunter Biden, 54, on Sunday, after previously saying he wouldn’t. The president’s son was found guilty in June on three felony federal charges over his purchase and possession of a gun in 2018 for violating the law by concealing drug use. He also pleaded guilty in September to nine federal tax charges, avoiding a trial. He was facing a sentencing hearing next week.
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