Joe Biden has thrown off the mask in the final days of his presidency – it’s now all about self-interest and abuse of power, plain and simple.

The president officially announced on Sunday that he has pardoned his son, Hunter, following convictions in two separate federal cases earlier this year. In doing so, along with yet again breaking explicit, repeated promises to the American people, Biden also unintentionally confirmed the legitimacy of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry and highlighted the rank corruption that has defined his tenure.

Just a few months ago, Joe Biden unequivocally told David Muir of ABC News that he had “ruled out” a pardon for Hunter amid the then-ongoing investigations. On multiple occasions after that, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre likewise said that Biden would not pardon Hunter, often acting annoyed with reporters for even asking the question.

Despite these repeated assurances, the fact that Hunter ultimately did receive a presidential pardon from his father is altogether unsurprising. From his many false statements that he had no knowledge of Hunter’s business dealings to the lie that he never met with the foreign business executives funneling his family millions of dollars, Joe Biden has already made clear that his dishonesty knows no bounds when it comes to his deeply troubled son.

With his legacy in tatters, his popularity in the tank, and his time as the most powerful man in the world coming to an end, what did Joe Biden have to lose by swooping in to save Hunter from decades in federal prison and millions of dollars in fines? (For those unfamiliar, the younger Biden was convicted by a jury on three felony counts related to his purchase and possession of a firearm while addicted to drugs, and had pleaded guilty on nine tax-related charges. He faced up to 17 years in prison on the tax charges and 25 years on the gun charges.)

What is somewhat shocking, however, is the scope of the pardon and the specific language Biden used to justify it.

“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Biden’s statement on the pardon reads. “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.”

“A carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room.” the statement continues. “Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”

Perhaps never in history has a president so shamelessly used White House letterhead to attempt to rewrite history. The “plea deal” Biden references was a sweetheart deal Biden’s own DOJ offered to Hunter that would have let him off with no prison time while granting him broad immunity from any other crimes he may have committed. That deal was so egregious it was rejected by the judge in the case – an exceedingly rare occurrence that reflects just how lenient the deal was.

Far from being prosecuted “selectively and unfairly,” the better interpretation of events is that Biden’s DOJ was doing everything it could to let the president’s son escape any accountability for his crimes.

To cap things off, Biden called his son’s convictions a “miscarriage of justice” – even though the president himself has now directly and intentionally overturned the decision of a jury to grant immunity to his son.

Moreover, the language of the pardon does not just cover the crimes Hunter Biden has been charged with. It also covers any crimes he “may have committed” going all the way back to January 1, 2014.

That date is notably right around when Hunter Biden and his business associates began raking in millions of dollars from Ukrainian energy company Burisma (while Joe Biden was still vice president) despite having no knowledge or experience in the field. As several commentators have already pointed out on X, pardoning Hunter for all crimes he committed during this period could be interpreted as Biden acknowledging that more crimes were indeed committed. Accordingly, Biden is attempting to insulate himself and his family from future investigations and criminal prosecutions.

As House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan noted, Biden’s pardon of his son also undermines Democrats’ claims that there was “nothing” to Republicans’ impeachment inquiry. “If that’s the case,” Jordan asked, “why did Joe Biden just issue Hunter Biden a pardon for the very things we were inquiring about?”

But perhaps the most incredible aspect of Biden’s pardon is just how tone-deaf it sounds following four years of Democrats waging open lawfare against Donald Trump. While Biden accuses his “political opponents” of “instigating” the investigations into Hunter to “oppose my election,” that is precisely what Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, and Biden’s own DOJ have done to Trump – except with far less evidence than was brought against Hunter.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son,” Biden also says. That statement is, of course, laughable on its face – the infamous laptop that Hunter left at a Delaware repair shop contained photo and text message evidence of Hunter committing the very crimes he was convicted of. President’s son or not, he documented everything needed to justify launching an investigation and then left that evidence in a public place.

A more accurate statement, however, is that no reasonable person who looks at the facts of Trump’s case could reach any other conclusion than that Trump was singled out because he was Democrats’ top political opponent.

While Hunter Biden’s cases were widely publicized because he is the president’s son, anyone who did what Hunter did – and documented himself doing – would be facing similar charges. Biden used all his influence to get Hunter a lighter sentence for his crimes. When that didn’t work, he just issued him a full pardon.

Meanwhile, Alvin Bragg had to invent a “novel legal theory” to justify prosecuting Trump, and Democrats had to go to Manhattan to find a jury willing to convict the president-elect on the flimsiest of charges. If Trump had not been running to be president this year, his “crimes” would not be considered crimes at all.

The Hunter Biden pardon is an ignominious part of the final chapter of Biden’s tenure. But it is nonetheless right in line with what Americans have come to expect from this presidency.

Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.