There has been some speculation that President-elect Donald Trump, in a magnanimous gesture toward his political opponents, should issue a pardon for Hunter Biden, the criminally indicted and convicted son of outgoing President Joe Biden.

In the view of one Republican senator, Wisconsin's Ron Johnson, however, Trump should not pardon Hunter Biden for his criminal record, Fox News reported.

That said, Sen. Johnson would not necessarily oppose the idea of Trump commuting any prison sentence that Biden may receive for his convictions on federal gun and tax law violations.

Johnson says no pardon for Hunter, but maybe a commutation

On Thursday, Sen. Johnson appeared on NewsNation with host Dan Abrams and addressed the topic of whether President-elect Trump should issue a pardon for Hunter Biden once he takes office in January.

"I don’t think he should pardon Hunter," Johnson said, according to The Hill. "I think we need to be very careful about having a dual system of justice where, you know, the powerful or the sons and daughters of the powerful get off scot-free."

"I could see possibly commuting the sentence, reducing it, and it wouldn’t surprise me if President Trump would do that," the senator continued. "I would not pardon Hunter. I would certainly not. I wouldn’t scream about commuting his sentence or reducing it in some way, shape, or form."

"I don’t think President Biden should pardon him," Johnson added. "I don’t think President Trump should pardon him, but I think by President Trump signaling that he might commute the sentence or do something to lessen it, hopefully, that will convince Joe Biden not to pardon his son. I think that would be a terrible example."

Hunter faces possible decades behind bars

According to Newsweek, Hunter Biden faces two separate sentencing hearings next month, the first on December 12 in Delaware for a trio of felony firearm convictions and the second on December 16 in California for several tax law violations he pleaded guilty to.

For lying about his drug use on the federal gun purchase form, Biden could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison, while he could also receive a sentence of up to 17 years in prison for tax evasion and fraud.

President Biden and his White House have repeatedly insisted that he will not issue a pardon for his troubled son before he leaves office, and that vow was reiterated during a White House press briefing on Thursday with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Asked directly if the president intended to pardon his son, Jean-Pierre replied, "We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no."

Trump left door open to grant Hunter clemency

As for President-elect Trump, he didn't rule out the possibility of extending mercy to Hunter Biden when asked during a late October interview with conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt.

"I wouldn’t take it off the books," Trump said of granting clemency for Hunter. "See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what, and Hunter’s a bad boy. There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do is see the laptop from hell. But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country."

Trump noted how he could have gone after his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, over her alleged crimes but chose not to do so because, in his view, "I thought it would look terrible. You had the wife of the president of the United States going to jail. I thought it would be very bad if we did that. And I made sure that didn’t happen, okay? I thought it would be bad. What I didn’t know is that they were going to play dirty with me."