Biden pardoned his son Hunter before leaving office, despite vowing not to
President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden from jail time for federal felony gun and tax convictions while also reversing past promises not to use the president’s special powers to benefit his family. The Democratic president had said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence following Hunter’s convictions in two cases in Delaware and California. Biden’s move comes weeks before Hunter Biden is set to be punished after being convicted in a gun trial and pleading guilty to tax charges, and less than two months after President-elect Donald Trump returned to the White House. It caps a long legal saga for the president’s son. Hunter publicly disclosed in December 2020 that he was under federal investigation, a month after Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Biden flatly ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son in June, telling reporters, “I abide by the jury’s decision. I’m going to do that and I’m not going to pardon him.” At the time, his son was facing trial in the Delaware gun case. Just days after Trump’s victory on November 8, White House press secretary Karina Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for Biden Jr., saying, “We’ve been asked this question many times. Our answer remains, no.” “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House Sunday evening, calling the prosecution of his son politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.” “The charges in his case came after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “Any reasonable person who has looked at the facts of Hunter’s case would conclude that Hunter was singled out simply because he is my son.” “I hope the American people understand why a father and a president made this decision,” Biden added. He said the decision was made this weekend. President Biden spent Thanksgiving with Hunter and his family in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
