Joe Biden has been criticized by some of his own supporters for granting his son Hunter a pardon he had previously vowed not to grant.

The president’s about-face predictably sparked intense criticism from Republicans, led by President-elect Donald Trump, who called it a “miscarriage of justice” and used it to press the case of the imprisoned ringleaders of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 to bring language. He has suggested pardoning him when he returns to the White House.

“Does the pardon granted by Joe Hunter also apply to the J-6 hostages who have been imprisoned for years now?” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

But it was the condemnation from his fellow Democrats – some of whom said he gave Trump justification for using the president’s pardon power himself – that likely had a bigger detriment.

Jared Polis, the Democratic governor of Colorado, said Biden had put his own reputation and legacy at risk.

“While as a father I certainly understand President @JoeBiden’s natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he has put his family before the country,” Polis wrote on X.

“This is a bad precedent that could be abused by future presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation.

“If you become president, your role is to be the father of the nation. “Hunter took upon himself the legal problems he faced, and one can sympathize with his struggles while recognizing that no one is above the law, no president and no president’s son.”

Hunter Biden was convicted by a Delaware court last June of lying on a gun permit application at a time when he was addicted to cocaine. He was later convicted in a California court on various tax evasion charges.

He was scheduled to be sentenced at hearings for both convictions later this month.

Biden justified his pardon by saying that Hunter’s prosecution was driven by “crude politics” and would not have been pressured had his father not been president.

That interpretation was rejected by Greg Stanton, a Democratic House member for Arizona.

“I respect President Biden, but I think he got this wrong,” he posted on social media.

“This was not a politically motivated prosecution. Hunter committed crimes and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Joe Walsh, an anti-Trump former Republican congressman who endorsed Biden for president, called the pardon disappointing because it allowed Trump to confirm his own much-criticized pardons from friends and supporters.

“It just reinforces the cynicism that people have about politics,” he told MSNBC. “This cynicism strengthens Trump because Trump can simply say, ‘I am not a unique threat.’ Everyone does that. “If I do something for my child, my son-in-law, then Joe Biden will do the same thing.” I understand, but that was a selfish move by Biden that only strengthens Trump politically.”

Writing in Atlantic magazine, Jonathan Chait argued that the president had undermined the democratic values ​​he previously espoused.

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“Principles become much more difficult to defend when their most famous defenders have blatantly compromised them,” he wrote.

“With the pardon decision and his stubborn insistence on running for a second term that he failed to win, Biden has chosen to put his own feelings above the defense of his country.”

Some Democrats jumped to Biden’s defense.

“Hunter. Here’s the reality. No U.S. attorney would have prosecuted this case given the underlying facts,” Eric Holder, an attorney general under Barack Obama, wrote on X.

“If his name had been Joe Smith, the decision would have been fundamental and fairer – a rejection. Pardon warranted.”

Jasmine Crocket, a Texas member of the House of Representatives, went further, saying, “Let me be the first to congratulate the president.”

“At the end of the day, we know that we have a 34-count convicted felon about to enter the White House,” she told MSNBC, referring to Trump’s conviction in a New York court on document forgery related to hush-money money , which is paid to a porn actor.

Alluding to allegations against several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, she added: “To anyone who wants to clutch their pearls now because (Biden) decided to pardon his son, I would say: Take a look in the mirror, because we know.” “It also says that … there are probably more people accused of sexual assault in this Cabinet than in any new Cabinet in American history.”

Sarah Longwell, another anti-Trump Republican strategist who supported Kamala Harris’ presidential bid, wrote: “‘Trump is worse’ is never a good argument to justify bad behavior.”

“Biden knows it’s wrong. That’s why he repeatedly committed himself not to do it. It doesn’t make him the same as Trump. It doesn’t change how uniquely corrupt Trump’s current appointees are. It’s just wrong and we should say that so we don’t forget that there is still right and wrong and that awareness of that is important for our president.