Washington D.C. (WNEWS BREAKING) — President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Sunday night, effectively sparing him a potential prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions. This move reverses his previous promises not to utilize the extraordinary powers of the presidency to benefit his family members.
The Democratic president had previously refused to grant pardons or commutations to his son for his convictions in Delaware and California. This decision comes weeks before Hunter Biden’s sentencing for the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The president’s son’s long-running legal saga finally came to an end with the announcement of his acquittal. This marked a significant milestone in his legal journey, which began in December 2020 when he publicly disclosed that he was under federal investigation. This revelation occurred just a month after Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”
In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” alleging that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family.
He was found guilty in June of a Delaware federal court for three felonies related to purchasing a gun in 2018. Prosecutors alleged that he misrepresented information on a federal form by claiming he was not using or addicted to drugs illegally.
He was scheduled to stand trial in September for the California case alleging that he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. However, in a surprising turn of events, he agreed to plead guilty to both misdemeanor and felony charges just hours before jury selection was scheduled to begin.
Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.
The tax charges carry a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison, while the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years. However, federal sentencing guidelines were expected to recommend significantly less time, and it was possible that he could avoid prison altogether.
Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,”—Hunter Biden
