WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Sunday evening, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence on federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his earlier promises not to use the presidency's extraordinary powers for advantage made. of his relatives.
The Democratic president had previously said he would not forgive his son or commute his sentence following his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his sentence following his conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.
It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly announced he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father's 2020 victory — putting a damper on the elder's legacy Biden. Biden, who promised again and again to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Trump's first term, ultimately used his position to help his son, fulfilling his public promise to Americans that he would do just that wouldn't do, broke off. .
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In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son stood trial in the Delware gun case: “I stand by the jury's decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
As recently as November 8, days after Trump's victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying: “We've been asked that question several times. Our answer remains: no.”
In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “Today I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” claiming his son's prosecution was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”
“The charges in his cases only came after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter's cases could come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out solely because he is my son.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision over the weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family, and was scheduled to depart later Sunday on what could be his final foreign trip as president before leaving office on January 20, 2025.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs .
He was scheduled to stand trial in September in the California case, in which he was accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and misdemeanor charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.
Hunter Biden said he pleaded guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and shame after the gun trial revealed salacious details about his struggle with crack cocaine addiction.
The tax charges carry a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison and the weapons charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years, although federal sentencing guidelines were expected to require much less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.
The far-reaching pardon applies not only to these crimes, but also to all other “crimes against the United States that he has committed or may have committed or in which he has participated in the period from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024.”
Biden is certainly not the first president to use his pardon powers to benefit those close to him.
In his final weeks as president, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as several allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump this week announced plans to appoint the elder Kushner as U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.
Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take the relief granted to him for granted and vowed to dedicate the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
“I admitted my mistakes and took responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that were exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sports,” the younger Biden said.
A spokesman for special counsel David Weiss, who prosecuted the cases, did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday evening.
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Associated Press writer Josh Boon in Nantucket, Massachusetts contributed to this report.
