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False claim Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush pardoned family members | Fact check

Joedy McCreary   Paste BN
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The claim: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush pardoned relatives

A Dec. 2 Threads post (direct link, archive link) claims to identify two other presidents who gave pardons to family members before President Joe Biden issued one to his son Hunter.

“Jimmy Carter pardoned his brother Billy Carter who took over $200,000 from Libya as its foreign agent,” the post’s text reads in part. “George H.W. Bush pardoned his son Neil Bush for his role in the S&L scandals of the 1980s. Nobody thinks those pardons defined either presidency.”

The Threads post was reposted more than 400 times in three days. The claim was also shared widely by other Threads users. A version posted to X by the executive editor of the liberal group Occupy Democrats was reposted thousands of times before he shared a correction.

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Our rating: False

Neither president pardoned the relatives referenced in the post, according to the U.S. pardon attorney’s office.

No pardons for Billy Carter, Neil Bush

Biden announced a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, on Dec. 1, sparing him a potential prison sentence after his conviction on three federal gun felonies and federal tax charges. While the move drew widespread criticism, the Threads post points to two other presidents and falsely claims they extended the same benefit to their family members.

Fact check: Hunter Biden has been charged with federal crimes, not sentenced

Neither William Alton Carter III nor Neil Mallon Bush appear on the official list of pardons issued by their presidential relatives, according to a list maintained by the Office of the Pardon Attorney, a division of the Department of Justice.

The president has the power to grant clemency only for federal offenses – but not state or local ones – and may pardon someone convicted in a U.S. district court, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia or a military court-martial. A president may also issue a preemptive pardon before a person committing a federal offense is prosecuted for it, with examples including President Gerald Ford’s Watergate-era pardon of predecessor Richard Nixon and Carter’s pardon of Vietnam War draft evaders.

But none of those things happened with either Billy Carter, the brother of President Jimmy Carter, or Neil Bush, the son of President George H.W. Bush.

In 1980, the Senate investigated Billy Carter’s business dealings with Libya after the Justice Department disclosed he registered as a foreign agent representing that nation after receiving $220,000 from the Libyan government. A Senate committee later found no evidence he influenced U.S. policy.

Neil Bush was a director of Denver-based Silverado Savings and Loan from 1985 to 1988 and was investigated by the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision for the business' $1 billion failure in 1988. Three years later, while his father was president, he received a formal reprimand from the Office of Thrift Supervision, a punishment described by consultant Bert Ely as “a slap on the wrist.” He also paid $50,000 to settle a 1990 lawsuit brought by federal regulators related to his role in the $1 billion failure.

Some presidents have pardoned relatives – but not the two identified in the post.

Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton in January 2001 after he pleaded guilty to federal drug charges. And President-elect Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of son-in-law Jared Kushner, in December 2020. The elder Kushner was convicted of preparing false tax returns, retaliating against a cooperating witness and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission in 2005. Trump has nominated Charles Kushner to serve as U.S. Ambassador to France during his second presidential term.

In a response to Paste BN, Grant Stern, the executive editor of Occupy Democrats, provided several news articles about Billy Carter and Neil Bush. None contained any mention of pardons.Paste BN previously debunked an implied claim that Biden can pardon Trump following his conviction in his New York hush money case and a false claim that Trump pardoned “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic.

Paste BN reached out to several social media users who shared the claim but did not immediately receive any responses.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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