On Sunday, President Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son Hunter Biden, but he far from the first president to issue a presidential pardon to a family member.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax fraud and he was convicted of gun-related charges, but he was issued a full and unconditional pardon.
There are three other previous presidents who have issued pardons to relatives, and here is a look at each of them.
Presidents who have issued pardons to family members
Donald Trump
Throughout his first term as president, Donald Trump issued 238 pardons and commutations, per Newsweek. One of those pardons was issued for Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In 2004, Charles Kushner was convicted of 18 counts of “falsifying tax returns, retaliating against a witness and making false statements about campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission,” according to The Washington Post.
The pardon was justified by citing Kushner’s philanthropic work.
Recently, Kushner was announced as Trump’s choice for the United States’ ambassador to France, per Axios.
Bill Clinton
On Bill Clinton’s last day in office he issued 140 presidential pardons and one of them was for his half brother Roger Clinton, per Newsweek.
“In 1985, Roger Clinton pleaded guilty to selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in Arkansas and spent a year in prison. The pardon helped clear his criminal record,” per The Washington Post.
Controversy arose around Roger Clinton when it was made public that he had provided the president a list of people to pardon. These pardons were not granted, the Post reported.
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln pardoned his wife Mary Todd Lincoln’s half-sister, Emilie Todd Helm, per Newsweek. This was one of the 343 pardons and commutations Lincoln issued during his presidency.
Helm’s husband was a Confederate general who was killed during the Battle of Chickamauga.
After her husband died, Helm was invited to the White House despite having been the wife of a rebel general.
President Lincoln presented her with a personally-written letter of amnesty. According to Newsweek, she was one of the first people to receive a pardon under the president’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.