The same day Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, the Rev. Jesse Jackson wrote to the president seeking pardons for his son, former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and his former daughter-in-law, Politico reports.

Axios: “Biden will limp away from the limelight — widely disliked by the public, and now loathed by many Democrats who blame him for twin sins of selfishness: running again, then pardoning Hunter after repeatedly saying he wouldn’t.”

“Some in Biden’s family have been shocked by the number of Democrats trashing his Hunter decision on the record, sources tell us. They expected some blowback — not a wicked backlash.”

“But even Biden’s best friends think it was nuts to pardon Hunter as a solo act on the same evening he left for a long-promised three-day trip to Africa.”

Wall Street Journal: “As he shuttled around the country, Biden ducked questions about the controversial pardon of his son, which was being met with outrage by Republicans as well as many in his own party back home. ‘Welcome to America,’ he joked to the Angolan delegation at the presidential palace amid shouted questions from the U.S. press about the pardon.”

“Biden, who at one point closed his eyes for an extended period during a roundtable with African leaders, didn’t hold a news conference during his trip, a once-standard practice on foreign visits.”

“President Joe Biden’s senior aides are conducting a vigorous internal debate over whether to issue preemptive pardons to a range of current and former public officials who could be targeted with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House,” Politico reports.

“Biden’s aides are deeply concerned about a range of current and former officials who could find themselves facing inquiries and even indictments, a sense of alarm which has only accelerated since Trump last weekend announced the appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Patel has publicly vowed to pursue Trump’s critics.”

“The White House officials, however, are carefully weighing the extraordinary step of handing out blanket pardons to those who’ve committed no crimes, both because it could suggest impropriety, only fueling Trump’s criticisms, and because those offered preemptive pardons may reject them.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is breaking with Joe Biden over the president’s stunning decision to pardon his son Hunter, Politico reports.

Said Newsom: “With everything the president and his family have been through, I completely understand the instinct to protect Hunter. But I took the president at his word. So by definition, I’m disappointed and can’t support the decision.”

Edward Luce: “It was shocking enough that Donald Trump picked one of his daughters’ fathers-in-law to be US ambassador to France and another as his Middle East envoy. The first, Charles Kushner, father of Jared, Ivanka Trump’s husband, is also a convicted felon.”

“Fear of Trump turning America into a banana republic is not outlandish. But Joe Biden has robbed Democrats of the chance to occupy higher ground by becoming the first US president in history to pardon an offspring.”

“The timing of Biden’s blanket act of immunity for his son Hunter was unfortunate. It enabled Trump to distract attention from his nepotism. As a matter of principle it was also lamentable. The rule of law in America looks like a game in which the well connected always seem to have a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Sonny Bunch: Joe Biden’s principles of convenience.

“As a father, I don’t know of a father that wouldn’t have done the same thing. What I would have done differently, my recommendations as a counsel would have been, why don’t you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all his charges?”

— Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), on CNN, suggesting President Biden offer a pardon for Donald Trump.

“In his sweeping pardon of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden did not just protect his son. He also handed President-elect Donald Trump a template to shield his own allies and stretch the pardon power even further,” Politico reports.

“Legal experts say Trump now has fresh precedent — and political cover — to issue expansive pardons absolving his allies not only of specific offenses, but even any undetermined crimes they may have committed.”

CNN: President Biden bypassed Justice Department when he pardoned his son.

Peter Baker: “There was a time, not that long ago, when President Biden imagined he would etch his place in history as the leader who ended the chaotic reign of Donald Trump, passed a raft of ‘Build Back Better’ laws to transform the country and reestablished America’s place in the world.”

“Now, in the desultory final days of his administration, Mr. Biden finds himself repudiated, even by some of his fellow Democrats, as the president who refused to step aside until it was too late, paved the way for Mr. Trump’s return to power and, in a final gesture of personal grievance over stated principle, pardoned his own son for multiple felony convictions.”

“The disappointment and frustration expressed by his own supporters since Mr. Biden intervened to spare his son Hunter from prison and any future investigations captured the disenchantment of many Democrats with the outgoing president as the end draws near. How he will be remembered by posterity may be hard to predict at this point, but the past few weeks have not helped write the legacy he had once envisioned.”

Wall Street Journal: Biden pardon threatens his legacy — and Democrats’ fight against Trump.

“President Biden’s pardon for his son not only allowed him to escape consequences from his current convictions, but likely for any crimes he might have committed in the past 11 years,” the New York Times reports.

“That sweeping amnesty is raising awkward historical comparisons and sharp questions about the use of presidential clemency.”

Axios: Hunter Biden pardon deepens Dems’ identity crisis.

New York Times: “Support for pardoning Hunter Biden had been building for months within the family, but external forces had more recently weighed on Mr. Biden, who watched warily as President-elect Donald Trump picked loyalists for his administration who promised to bring political and legal retribution to Mr. Trump’s enemies.”

“Mr. Biden had even invited Mr. Trump to the White House, listening without responding as the president-elect aired familiar grievances about the Justice Department — then surprised his host by sympathizing with the Biden family’s own troubles with the department.”

“But it was Hunter Biden’s looming sentencings on federal gun and tax charges, scheduled for later this month, that gave Mr. Biden the final push. A pardon was one thing he could do for a troubled son, a recovering addict who he felt had been subjected to years of public pain.”

Wall Street Journal: What to know about the unusual pardon.

Jeffrey Toobin: “Fortunately, Mr. Biden has time to redeem, or at least improve, his legacy on pardons. To state the obvious, the younger Mr. Biden is not the only person who got a raw deal from prosecutors. For better or worse, the lame duck period of modern presidencies has served as pardon season, and the president now has the chance to take some bold steps for people who don’t have friends, or a father, in high places. Mr. Biden could lower the prison sentences in cases involving crack, given the huge sentencing disparity between those and cases involving powdered cocaine. He could commute to life in prison the sentences of those on federal death row. He could end the pointless incarceration of elderly and disabled prisoners.”

“So far, though, he’s done none of that. For now, Mr. Biden’s sympathies extend only to his son.”

Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean urged President Biden to issue blanket pardons to everyone President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to target when he returns to the White House next month, the HuffPost reports.

That list includes those who have investigated Trump ― including Robert Mueller and Jack Smith and their teams ― as well as “all on Trump’s enemies list.”

Aaron Blake: “President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, on Sunday is exceptional not just because of the pardon’s recipient — the closest family member to receive a pardon in history — but also for its sheer breadth, according to experts on presidential pardons.”

“Biden didn’t just pardon his son for his convictions on tax and gun charges, but for any ‘offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.'”

“That’s a nearly 11-year period during which any federal crime Hunter Biden might have committed — and there are none we are aware of beyond what has already been adjudicated — can’t be prosecuted. It notably covers when he was appointed to the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2014 all the way through Sunday, well after the crimes for which he was prosecuted.”

“If you defended the 34x felon, who committed sexual assault, stole national security documents, and tried running a coup on his country… you can sit out the Hunter Biden pardon discussion.”

— Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), on X.