Nearly all pardons target specific allegations or charges, making Hunter Biden’s unusual. The only other precedent was President Gerald Ford’s highly controversial move in which he pardoned “all offenses against the United States” that Nixon “has committed or may have committed” over the course of his presidency.

President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of his son for any and all crimes that he might have committed over the last decade makes for a fitting bookend to his time in the White House. A failed presidency will end with one final disgrace – though it’s quite possible that more are forthcoming.

The federal investigation into Hunter Biden has been ongoing since 2020, when his father Joe Biden was elected president.