Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter – but he is not the first US president to use the powers available to him to make such a decision.
Hunter had been convicted of gun charges and pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion, and was due to be sentenced later this month.
The US Constitution says a president has the power to grant clemency, which includes pardons and commutations.
What is a US presidential pardon or commutation?
A pardon forgives federal criminal offences, while a commutation reduces penalties.
The power has its roots in English law – the monarch could grant mercy to anyone – while the US Supreme Court has found the presidential pardon authority to be very broad.
A president can only grant pardons for federal offences, not state ones, while impeachment convictions are not pardonable.
Here are other examples of American presidents using their authority to grant clemency.
Donald Trump
In his final weeks in office during his last term, Donald Trump issued a number of controversial pardons.
A list of people who had their crimes pardoned included ex-members of Congress convicted of corruption and two people charged in the Russia investigation that overshadowed his first presidency.
George Papadopoulos, the first Trump aide to plead guilty as part of the Mueller investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 US election, was part of the group granted clemency.
In December 2020, Mr Trump also pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The elder Kushner had previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
Bill Clinton
In 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton after he had completed a prison term for drug charges.
Mr Clinton also pardoned his former business partner Susan McDougal, who had been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the Whitewater real estate deal.
Richard Nixon
Pardoned in 1974, Richard Nixon remains the only US president to have resigned from office.
Following the Watergate scandal, which ultimately brought him down, his successor Gerald Ford gave him a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he may have committed against the US.
It brought accusations of a pact between the two men – and proved hugely controversial with the public as Ford fell to election defeat in 1976.
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Barack Obama
Chelsea Manning was behind an unauthorised release of sensitive US government material.
The former US Army intelligence analyst was convicted of espionage and other offences by court-martial in 2013.
Manning leaked nearly 750,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to the whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks while serving in Iraq in 2010.
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Sentenced to 35 years in jail, Manning was released in 2017 after serving seven years when Barack Obama commuted her sentence.
