Hunter Biden pardon: How do locals feel about President Biden's decision?

PHILADELPHIA - President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son on Sunday drew mixed reaction from passengers awaiting trains in the Wilmington train station named after the sitting president.

The federal courthouse in Wilmington was quiet in the early afternoon on the Monday after Thanksgiving. A far cry from the morning of June 11, when Hunter Biden, the troubled 54-year-old son of the sitting President, was convicted of gun charges. 

Months later, sitting in the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station, Angela Stevens of Philadelphia says Hunter Biden’s pardon was just. 

When asked if he got a break because he’s the president’s son, his conviction was unfair or a little bit of both, Stevens said, "I think it’s a little of both. I don’t think under Trump he would have gotten fair judicial treatment." 

The pardon came Sunday night with the president clearing his son of gun and tax charges, arguing in a statement:

"Hunter was singled out only because he is my son—and that’s wrong… I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision." 

Delaware’s U. S. Attorney, David Weiss, acting as Special Counsel in the Biden Case, filed a motion in California court Monday opposing dismissal of the tax charges. A similar motion is expected in Delaware. 

"It was those choices and the use of drugs that made his conduct dangerous," Weiss said in June after Biden’s conviction.

President-elect Trump is criticizing the pardon, and Oliver Hamlin agrees while waiting for a train in Delaware. 

"I really don’t think it was a good move on Biden’s part, especially because it was such an extreme move that you’d think it would be done at the end of his Presidency. Not a good look on his behalf," Hamlin said.

Angela Stevens believes Joe Biden did what any parent would - a parent with extraordinary power.

"I know if I were a parent I would do what I needed to do as a parent to protect my child," Stevens said.