The younger Biden is guilty of criminal gun and tax charges, and was slated to be sentenced on Dec. 12.
President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he has signed a pardon for his son Hunter Biden, who is guilty of federal tax and gun crimes. Biden had previously said that he would not interfere in his son’s case or pardon him.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement. “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.”
Biden added that it is clear Hunter was “treated differently” that others who committed similar crimes, and in part blamed “a number of my political opponents in Congress” who “[took] credit for bringing political pressure on the process.” Biden continued: “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.”
Hunter Biden was convicted earlier this year on federal gun charges, and later pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. The president told David Muir of ABC News in June that he would not consider pardoning his son, responding “yes” when asked if he would rule out a pardon. It was not the only time he said he would not sign a pardon. “I will not pardon him,” he said explicitly at a speaking event a week after his interview with Muir.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process adn it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” Biden concluded on Sunday. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
Hunter Biden was slated to be sentenced for the gun charges on December 12, and for the tax charges on December 16.