President Joe Biden announced on Sunday (1) that he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who was facing sentencing for tax evasion and possession of a firearm.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement. It is a “full and unconditional pardon,” according to a copy of the executive clemency grant.
This official clemency grant cannot be rescinded by elected President Donald Trump.
By pardoning his son, Joe Biden did not fulfill a public promise he made repeatedly before and after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The president and his chief White House spokesperson unequivocally stated, even after Trump won the 2024 election, that he would not pardon Hunter Biden or commute his sentence.
The pardon means that Hunter Biden will not be sentenced for his crimes, and eliminates any chance that he could be sent to prison, which was a possibility. The judges overseeing his cases are likely to cancel the sentencing hearings, which were scheduled for December 12 in the gun case and December 16 in the tax case.
The broadly crafted pardon explicitly grants clemency for the tax and gun offenses of his existing cases, as well as any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden may have committed “from January 1, 2014, to December 1, 2024.” This important period covers his entire tenure on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma and much of his other work abroad, including in China. He faced scrutiny for his controversial foreign business dealings, and Trump repeatedly stated that he should be prosecuted for his activities in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Joe Biden stated in his announcement that he decided to issue the pardon because his son was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted,” saying that “Hunter was treated differently” from people who commit similar crimes.
The president said that his political opponents in Congress “instigated” the charges “to attack me and oppose my election.”
He said in his statement: “I believe in the justice system, but just as I have struggled with it, I also believe that raw politics has infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice. … I hope that Americans understand why a father and a president would make this decision.”
The president further asserted that Hunter Biden was “targeted” for prosecution “just because he is my son” — claims that had previously been raised by Hunter Biden’s lawyers and were roundly rejected by two federal judges.
In a social media post on Sunday night, Trump called the pardon “an abuse and miscarriage of justice!” In an apparent joke, Trump also asked if the pardon includes his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 insurrection — whom he promised to pardon as soon as he returns to office.
Source: CNN