President Biden with First Son Hunter
U.S. President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions as he prepares to leave office.
In a statement issued by the White House on Sunday, Biden said that his son had been “singled out” and “selectively, and unfairly” prosecuted due to his family name.
This official grant of clemency cannot be rescinded by President-elect Donald Trump.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 for his conviction on federal gun charges.
He also was set to be sentenced on Dec. 16 in a separate criminal case in which he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges in September.
“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,” Biden said in his statement.
The president issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for any offenses Hunter Biden has “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
The president also spoke about his son’s struggles with addiction in his statement Sunday night, saying that his political opponents were trying to “break” him by going after Hunter.
“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,” he said.
“There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.
“In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” the President added.
