Republicans are seething because President Joe Biden issued a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, both for his existing gun and tax evasion convictions and potentially any other questionable dealings between 2014 and 2024. This includes many of Hunter’s transactions already investigated by the GOP, including his payments as a board member for a Ukrainian energy firm, his multimillion-dollar deals with a Chinese company and his surprisingly lucrative work as an artist.
I wish Biden had never promised not to pardon him, but the world has changed in a flash and not for the better. The Supreme Court has made it legal for a President to act with impunity at the same time that President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees have made it clear that they plan to take revenge on as many of his political adversaries as possible. Regardless of which nominees make it through the approval process; you can be certain they will obediently carry out the purge.
But if a deal is problematic when a Democratic president’s family member does it, it should also be a problem when a Republican president’s family does it. The thought of spending the rest of your life having to visit your only child in a jail house is abhorrent to any parent. Of course, very few have the power to avoid it, but given the opportunity, what parent wouldn’t?
Such transgressions have been the modus operandi of the Trump mob for a lot of the business transactions that they have engaged in since their Don became President. Their level of corruption dwarfs Hunter’s misdeeds.
At the top of the list is Jared Kushner’s investment fund, which he founded in 2021. Almost all of the roughly $3 billion that Kushner raised came from foreign sources. Of that, $2 billion came from the Saudi government, even though the Saudi king’s advisers concluded that giving Kushner any money would be a mistake because of his “inexperience” and “excessive” asset management fees.
Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, has been slow to make any actual investments but Kushner himself has been quick to collect fees just for taking their cash. As of September, Affinity Partners received more than $150 million in fees from foreign clients. Kushner has not paid out a penny of profits to investors.
One of the other principals at Kushner’s fund, Kevin Hassett, will once again serve in the Trump administration. He starts next month as Trump’s top economic adviser.
Kushner also appeared to profit from his role in government while he was serving in an official capacity. The Qatari king’s wealth fund bailed out his Fifth Avenue (#666) skyscraper just months before a $1.4 billion mortgage payment was due. This just happened to take place while he was in charge of Middle East policy at the White House and supporting a Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.
These aren’t the only cases of influence-peddling by the Trump tribe. Lately, his sons have been promoting a crypto currency which corporate executives have been buying up to gain favor with the gang. Justin Sun, an entrepreneur who was recently charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission, bought $30 million in World Liberty tokens, making him the biggest investor in a crypto product that until recently had been worthless. More than 16,000 people have bought into World Liberty Financial. But the currency has only raised $14 million of its planned $300 million from the token sale.
Unlike other currencies, buyers of World Liberty Financial have no real rights and can’t trade it or sell it. A paper detailing their plan says that the principals, who include Donald Trump, will receive 22.5 billion tokens; worth more than $330 million at the offering price and will also retain the right to receive 75% of its net revenues.
These conflicts of interest don’t include many other questionable dealings such as Ivanka’s trademarks on voting machines in China, or the massive profits gained by the Trump family from foreign and domestic officials staying at Trump properties, or the Don’s loans from a German bank during the housing crisis. Trump also has real estate deals in South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Uruguay, Panama, India and Turkey, as well as other countries.
A Short List of Well Known Trump Pardons (so far)
Steve Bannon who was indicted in 2020 for helping defraud Donald Trump fans by asking them to donate to a nonprofit that promised to privately fund a border wall. The other defendants in the plot went to prison.
Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner’s father, a real estate developer who was convicted in 2005 of crimes that included hiring a prostitute to film herself having sex with his sister’s husband.
Jonathan Braun, a drug dealer from Staten Island who was under investigation for his role in a loan-sharking scheme. In August of 2024, Braun was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife and her 75-year old father.
Eliyahu Weinstein, who Trump freed eight years into a 24-year sentence for running a ponzi scheme. Weinstein was indicted last year for allegedly running a new, similar scheme, that prosecutors said he launched “soon after” his release.
Former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of attempting to sell a Senate appointment and who had appeared on “The Apprentice” in 2010. Since the pardon, Blagojevich has publicly supported Trump.
Kwame Kilpatrick, former Detroit Mayor after being found guilty of extensive corruption. Kilpatrick is now campaigning for Trump, explaining that he is “grateful” for Trump’s help.
Angela Stanton, who was convicted in 2004 for her role in a car theft ring and later supported Trump, also appeared on a Fox News panel of Black voters as a Trump supporter.
Alice Johnson, a woman whose decades-long sentence for cocaine distribution appeared in a 2020 Trump campaign ad that aired during the Super Bowl. Johnson also spoke in support of him at during the Republican National Convention that year. Trump granted her a full pardon the next day.
Lil Wayne the rapper was pardoned after endorsing Trump him (and hired a lawyer who previously had appeared on the “Apprentice” in 2004).
Kodak Black, another rapper, who was freed from prison when Trump pardoned him, released a pro-Trump song in August.
Trump also pardoned Casey Urlacher on charges of helping run a massive gambling ring, after meeting months earlier with Urlacher’s brother, former Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher. The former All-Pro endorsed Trump in September and cut an ad for him.
Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye-doctor who was convicted in 2017 on 67 counts related to bilking Medicare out of at least $73 million by persuading numerous elderly patients to undergo tests and get treatment for diseases they did not have.
Philip Esformes, who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in stealing more than $1.3 billion from federal programs through fraudulent billing at nursing homes he owned. This one came after his father gave $65,000 to a Kushner-linked charity. Esformes was recently arrested on felony charges related to domestic violence.
George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser.
Paul Erickson, a marginal Republican operative best known for dating convicted Russian agent Maria Butina. In a statement at the time, Trump said Erickson’s conviction “was based off the Russian collusion hoax.” In fact, Erickson pleaded guilty to defrauding would-be real estate investors in North Dakota in a scheme unrelated to the Russian matter.
Roger Stone, who was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress about his role in helping Trump benefit from Democrats’ emails hacked by Russian agents.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, was similarly rewarded for fealty. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia.
Paul Manafort, who was prosecuted for secretly lobbying for Ukraine’s former pro-Russian president and for receiving untaxed payments. Manafort did eventually plead guilty to some charges and signed a cooperation agreement. While working for Trump’s campaign in 2016, Manafort met with a Russian agent to discuss Trump’s support for a plan to settle the conflict in Ukraine by handing control of the region to Moscow.
Clearly the hypocrisy is in full view. Neither Democrats nor Republicans can claim the high road here, not that there even is one. Presidential pardons have been a thing since Washington pardoned the Whiskey Rebellion leaders. They got interesting when Nixon pardoned Jimmy Hoffa and Ford pardoned Nixon. They may be about to get even more interesting; stay tuned.