Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Sunday night, a turnaround for the president, who has consistently stated that he would not utilize his presidential authority to pardon or commute Hunter’s sentence.
“I trust in the judicial system, but as I have grappled with this, I believe raw politics has infiltrated this process, resulting in a miscarriage of justice — and after I reached this decision this weekend, there was no point in prolonging it any longer. I hope Americans understand why a father and a president would make this decision,” Biden said.
Hunter Biden’s sentencing for his conviction on federal gun crimes is set for December 12. In a different criminal case, he entered a guilty plea to federal tax evasion charges in September and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16.
It is anticipated that the pardon will cover both his guilty plea and his conviction on gun charges.
The president decided to pardon his son over the weekend and started telling his closest aides on Sunday; a senior White House official told NBC News, which broke the story first.
In his remarks on Sunday night, the president also discussed his son’s battles with addiction and claimed that his political rivals were attempting to “break” him by targeting Hunter.
As Biden stated in his statement, “No sane person who considers the facts of Hunter’s cases can come to any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong.”
“There has been an effort to break Hunter, who has been clean for five and a half years, despite relentless attacks and selective prosecution. They’ve tried to break Hunter, and now they’re attempting to break me, and there’s no reason to assume it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
A request for comment from Special Counsel David Weiss’s representative was not immediately answered. Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, remained silent.
Biden, 82, is using his pardon authority to ensure Hunter Biden doesn’t go to jail as his time in the White House draws to a close and he has no more elections to contend with. In recent months, he has stated that he will not pardon his son or lessen his sentence.
In June, following a jury’s conviction of Hunter Biden on three federal firearms counts, he declared, “I will not pardon him.”
According to two people with intimate knowledge of the conversations, the president has talked about pardoning his son with some of his closest advisors at least since Hunter Biden’s conviction in June.
They added that although pardoning his son was still an option, it was determined at the moment that he would publicly state that he would not do so.
The first criminal trial involving a sitting president’s kid was that of Hunter Biden in June.
His father was running for re-election, and a pardon after that trial would have sparked a political firestorm for him. For years, Republicans have accused Hunter Biden and the president of corruption and criticized him for his international business activities. They have also claimed that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment from the Justice Department because of his father’s political influence.
When Hunter Biden entered a guilty plea in a deal with federal prosecutors on the tax and gun charges in July 2023, it fell apart after a judge questioned it, marking the height of GOP criticism. A few weeks later, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney investigating Hunter Biden, as special counsel.
A pardon before last month’s election would have caused a political backlash against Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy when she replaced Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket after Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July.
Hunter Biden faces a potential jail term of 42 years for the 12 counts for which he is found guilty or has entered a guilty plea. However, convictions for these crimes usually do not result in the maximum terms. For example, according to the Justice Department, sentences are usually less than the maximum penalty of 17 years for tax offenses.
Biden responded, “Yes,” when asked in a June interview if he would rule out a pardon for his son.
The president declared in a statement that he would respect the verdict after a jury in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, found Hunter Biden guilty on federal gun charges a few days later. He then assured reporters that he would follow the jury’s verdict.
Biden remarked, “I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He is no longer addicted. I’m content that I won’t do anything because he’s one of the smartest, most decent men I know. I indicated I would follow the jury’s decision. I will do that and will not pardon him.”
