President Biden pardons son, Hunter, despite vowing not to intervene

(CN) — President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, Sunday night for felony tax and gun convictions — a stark reversal of the president’s repeated assertions that he would not use his executive power to protect his family.

Biden’s unconditional pardon covers his son’s convictions on all 12 charges, as well as any other “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”

The younger Biden’s high-profile legal woes threatened to land him in prison for up to 42 years, though federal sentencing guidelines meant he would probably have received a lighter sentence or even avoided serving time in prison.

In June, a jury in Delaware convicted Hunter Biden on three federal firearms counts after he lied to a licensed gun dealer about his substance abuse. In September, he pleaded guilty in California to nine tax-related charges after a special counsel accused him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019. He was scheduled to be sentenced in both cases later this month.

In a statement released Sunday evening, President Biden described the legal attacks against his son as politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice,” suggesting Hunter Biden’s struggles with drug addiction had been used in an attempt to tarnish the Biden family’s reputation.

“It is clear that Hunter was treated differently,” President Biden wrote. “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. No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion that Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong.

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision,” he added, writing that he had made the decision during Thanksgiving weekend.

The president’s decision to pardon Hunter Biden contradicts months of public statements suggesting he would not interfere.

In June, two days after Hunter Biden’s firearms conviction, President Biden first publicly announced he would not pardon his son or commute any eventual sentence, telling reporters, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

As recently as Nov. 8, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would not grant a pardon or clemency to his son, saying, “We’ve been asked about that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

Biden is not the first president to wield his pardon powers for the benefit of his closest circle.

In his final weeks before leaving office, then-President Donald Trump issued pardons to a litany of confidantes, including Charles Kushner — the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; former campaign manager Paul Manafort; and former chief strategist Steve Bannon.

While not explicitly mentioning the Bidens, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called for an overhaul of the Justice Department in a statement released shortly after the pardon.

“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Cheung said.

“That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American People,” he added.

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