President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who earlier this year was convicted of gun-related felony charges in Delaware and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in California.
“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,” the president said in a statement issued Sunday night. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden’s sentencing hearings for the gun and tax cases, which were slated for Dec. 12 and Dec. 16, respectively. President Biden had previously said he would not use his presidential powers to pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions.
“I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest most decent men I know,” Joe Biden said in June after Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial. “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
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Hunter Biden’s legal travails became a media frenzy ever since he revealed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — one month after his father’s presidential election win.
In June, Hunter Biden was convicted in Delaware federal court of three felonies related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. According to prosecutors, he had lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. He then pleaded guilty in September to misdemeanor and felony charges before his trial in California was set to begin; he was accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.
Before President Biden’s pardon, Hunter Biden faced up to 25 years in prison for the gun-related felony charges and up to 17 years for the tax offenses.
NBC News was first to report that President Biden would pardon his son.
Read President Biden’s full statement below:
Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, 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. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
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. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
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. 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.
For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. 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.