US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he had pardoned his son Hunter Biden, reversing his pledge to stay away from legal proceedings against the younger Biden who pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted of firearms charges.
“Today I signed a pardon for my son, Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere in the decision-making process at the Department of Justice, and I kept my word even as I watched my son act selectively and unfairly. The trial,” the president said in a statement. .
The White House has repeatedly said that Biden will not pardon or commute the sentences of Hunter, a recovering drug addict who has become a target of Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any conclusion other than that Hunter was chosen solely because he is my son,” Biden said in a statement issued shortly before he departed on a trip to Africa.
Granting the clemency grants a “full and unconditional” pardon to Hunter Biden for any crimes from January 1, 2014, to December 1, 2024, Biden said.
Hunter Biden faced sentencing for his false statements and gun possession conviction this month. In September, he pleaded guilty to federal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers and luxury goods. He was scheduled to be sentenced on December 16.
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction, mistakes that were exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter Biden said in a statement on Sunday. Sober for more than five years.
“In the midst of addiction, I wasted many opportunities and benefits… I will never take for granted the clemency granted to me today and will dedicate my rebuilt life to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Republicans criticized the president’s move.
“Does Joe’s pardon for Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have been imprisoned for years? Such abuse and miscarriage of justice!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website, referring to those convicted of storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after Trump falsely claimed that he had won the 2020 election.
“Joe Biden lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence-peddling activities,” said Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
The president, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, said his opponents sought to break Hunter through selective prosecution.
He said people were almost never prosecuted on criminal charges related to how to fill out a gun form, and he said others who were late with taxes due to addiction but paid them back with interest and penalties, as his son did, typically did not receive taxes. – Criminal decisions of their cases.
“It is clear that Hunter was treated differently,” Biden said. “The charges in his case only came to light after many of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election.” “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to think it’ll stop here. Enough is enough.”
In August 2023, Hunter Biden’s lawyers said prosecutors backed out of a plea agreement that would have resolved the tax and firearms charges. The plea deal “would have been a fair and reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases,” the president said in his statement Sunday.
Biden said he made his decision to pardon over the weekend. The president, his wife Jill Biden, and their family, including Hunter, spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and returned to Washington on Saturday evening.
“Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I’ve wrestled with this, I also believe that crass politics have infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made that decision this weekend, there was no problem.” “It makes sense to postpone it further,” Biden said.
He added, “I hope that the Americans understand why the father and the president made this decision.”