US President Joe Biden on Sunday (Dec 1) issued an official pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, who was awaiting sentencing on federal charges related to tax evasion and the illegal purchase of a firearm.
Condemning the legal proceedings against his son as “infected” by “raw politics” Biden said that while he believed in the justice system, there was a “miscarriage of justice”.
Reacting to the full pardon, Hunter said: “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Biden says Hunter was targeted because ‘he is my son’
In a statement, the US president claimed that “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 — and that is wrong.”
“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,” he said.
“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”.
“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.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” he added.
Was Biden planning the pardon all along?
The pardon marks a stark departure from Biden’s earlier position. As recently as June, Joe Biden said that he would neither pardon nor commute any sentence for his son Hunter Biden.
In June, at the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy, Biden at a press conference was asked if he would consider commuting any sentence Hunter might receive.
Describing Hunter as one of the brightest and most decent men he knows, Biden at the time said, “I said I’d abide by the jury decision. I will do that. I will not pardon him.”
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles
In December 2023, a grand jury charged Hunter Biden with failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019, even as he spent millions of dollars on drugs and various high-ticket items.
Additionally, he faced charges of intentionally evading tax assessment for the 2018 tax year by submitting fraudulent returns. The US president’s son faces three felony charges and additional misdemeanour counts.
In June of this year, Hunter, in a separate trial, was convicted of lying about illegal drug use when he bought a handgun in 2018 by a Delaware jury.
(With inputs from agencies)