US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing him a possible prison sentence for gun and tax convictions and reversing past promises not to use the powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” the president said in a statement released by the White House.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
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Biden had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California.
Biden said he had made the decision 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 night.
“Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” he said.
The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before US President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.
It caps a long-running legal saga for Hunter Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 – a month after Joe Biden’s 2020 US election victory.
In June, as his son Hunter was facing trial in the gun case in Delaware, Biden ruled out a pardon or clemency for his son in an interview with ABC News.
As recently as November 8, 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.”