Monday Briefing

President Biden pardoned his son Hunter

In a reversal, President Biden last night fully and unconditionally pardoned his son Hunter, using the power of his office to wave aside years of legal troubles, including a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun.

In a statement, the president said he decided to issue the executive grant of clemency for his son because he considered the charges politically motivated and designed to hurt him politically. “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” he said. Read the full statement.

Past presidents have used their executive power late in a term to commute the sentence of a family member. President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton for old cocaine charges, and Donald Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, for tax evasion and other crimes. (Over the weekend, Trump said that he would nominate Kushner to be the U.S. ambassador to France.)

Fighting rages in Syria as rebels advance

Rebel forces advanced in Syria amid fierce fighting yesterday, capturing the airport and the military academy of Aleppo and attacking the outskirts of Hama, a city in the country’s west, according to rebel officials and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.