Before Biden: Trump, Clinton, and Carter’s most notorious presidential pardons for family members

Former presidents, including Clinton and Trump, have also pardoned family members, stirring political controversy & scrutiny over the use of presidential power.

Before President Biden’s recent decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, a rare and highly scrutinised move, there have been a few notable instances in which U.S. presidents have extended the power of presidential pardons to their own family members.

FILE - President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)(AP)

While Biden’s move for Hunter, which addressed criminal convictions related to gun and tax charges marks a historic decision, breaking a public promise to not interfere with his son's legal matters, he isn’t the first to use this controversial power.

From Bill Clinton's pardon of his half-brother Roger for drug-related charges to Donald Trump’s controversial pardon of his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, for a range of serious offenses, this tradition of family-linked mercy has made headlines over the years.

Joe Biden pardons son Hunter Biden

Just weeks before Donald Trump’s anticipated return to the White House after winning the 47th presidential election, President Joe Biden made a not-so-surprising move on December 1. In his statement, Biden claimed that his son’s legal troubles were a result of political opponents in Congress who, he said, used the cases as a strategy to undermine him and oppose his presidency.

“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,” he explained.

Republicans have long tried to link Hunter Biden’s business dealings to his father, adding fuel to the controversy. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden continued.

Donald Trump pardoned Jared Kushner’s father

President-elect Donald Trump granted a pardon to Charles Kushner in 2020, after Kushner had pleaded guilty years earlier to witness tampering, tax evasion, and illegal campaign contributions. Kushner, who has close ties to Trump from their real estate connections, is now being considered for the role of U.S. Ambassador to France. The two families also share a personal connection, as Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, married Kushner’s son, Jared, in 2009.

While making an announcement on Truth Social, the MAGA praised Kushner as, “a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker.”

Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger

On his final day in office in 2001, President Bill Clinton granted a pardon to his half-brother, Roger Clinton, who had been convicted in 1985 for a drug-related offense. Roger had served over a year in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges. During this time, he also faced scrutiny from Congressional Republicans, who investigated him for receiving large sums of money from foreign sources.

Billy Carter, brother of Jimmy Carter

Billy Carter, who faced financial troubles and dealt with alcoholism, tried to secure business deals with Libya, hoping to earn half the profits.

However, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee concluded in October 1980, just before Jimmy Carter lost the election, that Billy did not affect U.S. policy. While President Carter did not openly defend his brother, the pardon was granted to help lessen any political damage.

Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln granted pardons to several individuals during his presidency, including 265 Dakota Indians, an Ohio Congressman known as a Copperhead, and Emilie Todd Helm, the wife of Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm and half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln.