Biden's last-minute decision to pardon his son didn't go well with Democratic officials

Democratic members believe the pardon undermines trust in institutions and provides political cover for US President-elect Donald Trump to pursue alleged far-right ambitions that Democrats fear will harm the country, NBC news reported on Tuesday.

A former senior White House official said they and others around them were “certain” that the president would ultimately pardon his son, while another ex-administration official described it as “extremely, painfully obvious that this was where things would end up,” according to CNN.

In an interview, Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis said, “The unfortunate thing here is he (Biden) basically has legitimized these (corruption) accusations against the Justice Department, and that is going to reverberate for the next four years. That’s the problem.”

Hunter Biden was found guilty of federal gun charges stemming from his possession of a firearm while addicted to drugs in 2018. In September of the same year, he pleaded guilty to federal tax charges.

Nearly a month before the end of his presidential term, Biden formally pardoned his son Hunter on Sunday evening, despite previous promises not to use his executive powers.

The presidential pardon covers both convictions and represents a significant reversal for a president who has repeatedly pledged that he will not do so.

Later, Biden left the US on Sunday evening for a trip to Africa, where he is unlikely to face reporters for the next several days.

Biden previously said in a lengthy statement that the charges against his son were politically motivated, claiming that "raw politics has infected" the justice system and resulted in a "miscarriage of justice."

"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 – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution," he said.