[Dr. Franklin]

Why not just do it now to avoid the embarrassment and legal bills?

Pardoning someone, and the acceptance of the pardon, is usually construed as an admission of guilt. It looks very bad for a father to do that for his son, especially when the father is "the Big Guy" profiting from his son's illicit business, and was in fact what made the illicit influence trafficking profitable. The Biden's don't want to issue the pardon's until after the 2024 Election. The day after the election, a pardon would be OK, but not before. They don't want to need to steal even more votes than they already need.

[joesbucks]

Blabbing it in front of a committee is just as if not more embarrassing.