WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s public justification of his decision to pardon his son — accusing the Justice Department of political targeting — threatens to undermine the image he carefully cultivated through decades in politics as an honest broker whose principal loyalty was to protecting the sanctity of critical U.S. institutions.

Biden’s 180-degree turn on pardoning his son led Republicans to accuse the president of lying to the public ahead of the election only to reverse course after the political stakes disappeared. The White House provided scant justification for the reversal, offering merely that Biden changed his mind after “wrestling” with the decision over a Thanksgiving holiday spent partly with his son.

The blanket pardon spanning a decade of possible criminal activity also offered ammunition to critics who have long questioned whether Hunter Biden engaged in illicit lobbying or foreign dealings, including while his father served as vice president. While no evidence of such crimes has been made public, immunity from those possible charges was central to a plea deal that collapsed last year.

Beyond tarnishing a legacy already badly bruised by his withdrawal from the presidential race and President-elect Donald Trump’s subsequent victory, Biden’s justification has fanned concerns, even among allies, that his move will be seized upon by the incoming administration to overhaul the federal government and dispense with longstanding norms protecting the independence of the criminal justice system.

Implicit in his explanation was the suggestion that prosecutions, even under his leadership, had been politicized, a point that incoming Trump officials have used to justify planned overhauls at the Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and intelligence agencies.

“President Biden’s decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all,” Senator Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, said Monday.

‘What he believed’

The widening fallout left White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the back foot Monday, as she struggled with questions about the implications of Biden’s statement.

“Two things could be true — the president does believe in the justice system, and the Department of Justice, and he also believes that his son was singled out politically,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One as Biden flew to Africa. “They would continue to go after his son. That’s what he believed.”

The decision to ultimately pardon Hunter was hardly shocking given the tragedy that has gripped Biden and his family throughout his career, and the emphasis the president has placed on protecting those bonds no matter the cost. Biden’s first wife and daughter perished in a traffic accident just weeks after he was first elected to the Senate, and his eldest son, Beau, died of cancer during his tenure as vice president. Beau’s death rocked the family, and Hunter has pointed to the loss in explaining his spiral into drug and alcohol addiction.

In justifying the pardon, Biden said he believed “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” It’s a dramatic reversal for Biden, who staked so much of his presidency and his campaigns against Trump on faith in institutions.

It’s also a major concession for a Washington hand who wanted to be president all of his adult life, and who cast his presidency as a moment to take the heat down in politics. Paired with Trump’s comeback, the pardon of Hunter was a tacit admission he fell short at one of his main presidential objectives.

The intervention offers political cover for Trump to widely issue clemency decisions. Trump has regularly mused about pardoning or commuting sentences of all those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, and immediately raised the issue in response to Biden’s move.

“Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages,” he wrote on Truth Social, referring as he regularly does to the convicted riot participants as hostages. “Such an abuse and a miscarriage of justice!”

Trump in waiting

Trump is readying to reshape the system in his own way, including with his plan to appoint loyalist Kash Patel as director of the FBI. Patel, like Trump, is an outspoken critic of certain federal agencies, pledging to dismantle key tenets of the “deep state.” Trump also nominated another loyalist, Pam Bondi, as attorney general after his initial pick, Matt Gaetz, bowed out.

The pardon is a focal point in the frenzied final year of Biden’s presidency — one that began with him running again before stepping aside amid slumping polls and mounting pressure. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign then largely sidelined him, and operatives have lamented that his unpopularity, and Harris’ hesitance to criticize him, was a core challenge for her, ultimately helping Trump.

Biden has steered away from the public eye since Trump’s victory, keeping a modest profile. He announced the pardon on the eve of his trip to Africa, guaranteeing that Jean-Pierre’s confrontation with reporters would remain off camera. Biden is not expected to hold a press conference during his time in Africa.

While the administration is racing to wrap up some projects, preparing a new round of Ukraine aid and signaling new funding for the Lobito corridor infrastructure project that’s a hallmark of this week’s trip, Trump is operating as president-in-waiting, holding meetings at his Mar-a-Lago club and pressuring foreign leaders on his priorities.

Biden had repeatedly publicly ruled out intervening in his son’s case and the White House offered no new evidence for the change beyond his growing belief that opponents would continue to target his son. The administration cast it as a case of him changing his mind, rather than lying.

Jean-Pierre pointed to the collapse of a plea agreement as evidence of a double standard, and repeatedly said the case would have been handled differently if the defendant were not the president’s son.

“The president believed enough is enough. And the president took action. And he also believes that they tried to break his son in order to break him,” she said.

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(With assistance from Skylar Woodhouse.)

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