Biden pardoned his son Hunter, despite promising not to interfere in the criminal case

Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Dec. 1, sparing him from possible prison time on federal gun and tax charges, breaking previous promises by the 46th president not to use his extraordinary powers to benefit his family, writes Associated Press.

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The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon or commute his son's sentence on the Delaware and California charges. But the pardons came weeks before Hunter Biden was set to face sentencing if convicted on gun and tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The decision ends a long legal saga for Biden Jr., who publicly announced in December 2020 (a month after his father won the election) that he was under federal investigation.

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Biden Sr., who repeatedly promised Americans he would restore respect for the rule of law after Trump's first term, ended up using his position to help his son, thereby breaking his public promise to Americans.

In a statement on December 1, the 46th president said: "I have faith in the judicial system, but when I reflect on it, I still believe that the gross interference of political interests can lead to injustice."

The presidential pardon applies not only to gun- and tax-related crimes, but also to any other "crimes against the United States that he committed or may have committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024."

In June, Biden flatly ruled out pardoning his son, telling reporters during his gun trial in Delaware: “I’m going to abide by the jury. I’m not going to pardon him.”

Back in early November, a few days after Trump's victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out the possibility of pardoning the younger Biden: "We've been asked this question many times. Our answer remains the same: no."

Biden Sr. has publicly supported his current only son, despite his serious drug problems that once threatened the entire family. In recent years, Hunter has managed to overcome his addiction. Biden Sr.'s political opponents have long used Hunter's many mistakes as a tool to attack the head of the White House. At one hearing, lawmakers even showed photos of the president's son half-dressed and high in a cheap hotel.

House Republicans have also sought to use Biden Jr.'s long-running, questionable foreign business dealings in an attempt to impeach his father. Biden Sr. has long denied any involvement in his son's affairs.

“The charges against him only emerged after several of my political opponents in Congress brought them forward to attack me and prevent my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person examining the facts of Hunter’s case could come to any other conclusion: that he was targeted simply because he is my son.”

“I hope the American people understand why, as a father and as a president, I came to this decision,” Biden explained.

The president spent Thanksgiving on Nantucket, Massachusetts, with Hunter and his family and was scheduled to travel to Angola on December 1, on what may be his final overseas trip as president before leaving office on January 20, 2025.

In June, Hunter Biden was convicted in federal court in Delaware on three charges related to a 2018 gun purchase in which prosecutors said he lied on a federal application when he claimed he was drug-free and not addicted to drugs.

He was scheduled to go on trial in September in a California case in which he was accused of evading at least $1,4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty hours before jury selection began.

David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware who negotiated the plea agreement, was later appointed special counsel to have more autonomy in the case against the president's son. The appointment was made by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Hunter Biden says he pleaded guilty in a tax case to spare his family further pain and shame after scandalous details of his battle with crack cocaine addiction were revealed at his gun trial.

The tax violation charges carried a potential 17-year sentence, while the weapons fraud charges could have carried a 25-year sentence. However, federal authorities were expecting a much shorter sentence, and the president's son could have avoided jail time altogether.

Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced this month in two federal cases brought by a special counsel after a deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison fell through. Under the original agreement, Hunter would have pleaded guilty to tax evasion and avoided charges in the gun case if he stayed clean for two years.

But the plea hearing quickly fell apart last year when a judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the agreement. The younger Biden was subsequently charged with two counts.

Hunter Biden's legal team released a 52-page document this weekend titled "The Political Harassment of Hunter Biden," which described the president's son as the right person "to attack and harm his father both as a candidate in 2020 and later as President."

Biden Jr.'s lawyers have long argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure by bringing charges against the president's son amid sharp criticism from Trump and other Republicans who called the plea agreement "too lenient."

Congressman James Comer, one of the Republican chairmen leading the investigation into the Biden family, criticized the president's pardon, saying the evidence against Hunter was just the "tip of the iceberg."

"It's a shame. Instead of being honest about their years of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability," Comer wrote on the X platform.

Biden is far from the first president to use his powers to help loved ones.

In his final weeks in office, 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 investigation into Russian election meddling. This weekend, Trump announced plans to name the elder Kushner as U.S. ambassador to France in his next administration.

Steven Zheng, a spokesman for Trump who has promised to radically reform the Justice Department and appoint loyalists after he was indicted for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, said: “This justice system must be fixed and due process rights restored for all Americans. That’s what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House.”

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Hunter Biden said he would never take the pardon for granted and vowed to dedicate the rest of his life to "helping those who are still suffering and sick."

"I have admitted guilt and taken responsibility for the mistakes I made during the darkest days of my addiction - mistakes that were used to publicly humiliate me and my family for political purposes," Hunter said.

Biden Jr.'s legal team, citing the pardon, filed requests on Dec. 1 in Los Angeles and Delaware courts to immediately dismiss the gun and tax cases.

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