The United States President Joe Biden has reversed himself over his son, Hunter Biden, just as he gradually prepares to hand the White House over to his predecessor and incoming President, Donald Trump.
President Biden pardoned Hunter of firearms and tax convictions despite earlier pledge not to use his presidential authority to grant him clemency.
Biden said on Sunday that his son had been “singled out” and “selectively, and unfairly” prosecuted due to his family name.
“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,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
“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.”
Justifying his decision, Biden said that throughout his career he had followed the principle of telling the public the truth out of a belief that Americans are 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,” Biden said.
This official grant of clemency cannot be rescinded by President-elect Donald Trump.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on December 12 for his conviction on federal gun charges. He also was set to be sentenced on Dec. 16 in a separate criminal case in which he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges in September.
“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,” Biden said further in his statement.
The president issued a “full and unconditional pardon” for any offenses Hunter Biden has “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” according to the White House statement.
The president did not gloss over his son’s struggles with addiction in his statement but talked about it on Sunday night, saying that his political opponents were trying to “break” him by going after Hunter.
“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,” Biden said in his statement. “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.”
