President Joe Biden just made history — the bad kind — with Sunday night’s sweeping Thanksgiving-weekend pardon of his own son, Hunter Biden. (Talk about trying to bury a story.) The outgoing president made this all way harder than it needed to be on himself, his son, and the justice system.

President Joe Biden and his family discussed whether to pardon Hunter Biden during their time together in Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News Monday.

The pardon comes weeks before President Biden leaves office and transfers power to President-elect Donald J. Trump, who spent years attacking Hunter Biden over his legal and personal issues.

President Joe Biden ’s decision to pardon his son Hunter may have drawn bipartisan criticism, but it doesn’t seem to be causing nearly as much controversy at home. First lady Jill Biden told reporters Monday that she fully supports her husband’s action.

While controversy over presidential pardons has a long history, few have used the constitutionally vested power to pardon family members.

Some Democrats fear that Trump will use the pardon to criticize the justice system and bolster his own efforts to remake it.

The White House has defended President Joe Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter, after repeatedly insisting he had no plans for such executive clemency. The press secretary said Biden had pardoned his son,

Hunter Biden gave an early signal that he believed he would ultimately be pardoned by President Joe Biden, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek.

The point is the GOP reaction to the Biden pardon was about Joe and Hunter Biden. The Democratic reaction, on the other hand, was about Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden had long pledged that he would not pardon his son, Hunter. But on Sunday, the president did it anyway.