President Joe Biden did exactly what he said he would not do — he pardoned his son, Hunter Biden.
The younger Biden was the subject of two federal cases earlier this year, for tax evasion and illegally purchasing a firearm, Fox News reported..
The White House made the announcement Sunday night. Hunter is pardoned for offenses he “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” according to a statement by Biden. “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.”
The president added prosecutors treated his son differently.
“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,” Biden wrote. “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.”
Biden wrote of Hunter Biden’s addiction issues and how he has had to face “unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.”
“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,” the president wrote. “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.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” the president wrote.
Earlier this year, the 54-year-old Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses and then pleaded guilty in a separate felony tax case.
The president has said he would not pardon his son.
“I am not going to do anything,” Biden said after Hunter was convicted. “I will abide by the jury’s decision.”
Hunter was found guilty of “making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance,” per a Fox News report.
Specifically, Hunter lied on a federal firearm form in October 2018. Hunter marked the “No” box to the question if he is an unlawful user of substances or addicted to controlled substances.
Hunter’s attorneys argued that on the day Biden bought the gun, he did not consider himself an active drug addict.
However, prosecutors showed that Hunter texted Hallie Biden, his sister-in-law-turned-girlfriend, a day after he bought the gun that he was “waiting for a dealer named Mookie.”
Hunter was scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 13, which was delayed until this month.
Hunter also faced three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.
His sentencing in that case was scheduled for Dec. 16.
Fox News obtained a copy of a legal document of Hunter’s acknowledgment of the pardon.
“On December 1, 2024, I received a formally accepted the President’s grant of a pardon,” per the document. “I declare (or certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.”
In a statement Sunday night, Hunter said that he would “never take the clemency” his father gave him for granted.
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter wrote.
“In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages,” Hunter wrote. “In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded.”
