Joe Biden made the shock announcement Sunday night that he would issue a presidential pardon for his troubled son Hunter, calling his prosecution ‘selective’ and ‘unfair.’
The bombshell U-turn decision comes just weeks after The White House denied the president would make the drastic move in the final months of his lame duck presidency. Biden, himself, said as recently as June that he would ‘not pardon’ his son.
‘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 said in a statement.
The president claimed that people are ‘almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.’
He then added: ‘It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.’
Biden raged against ‘several of my political opponents in Congress‘ who he claimed made the charges a public spectacle ‘to attack me and oppose my election.’
He added that the plea deal Hunter agreed to with the Department of Justice was a ‘fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.’ But that deal fell through at the last minute under political pressure.
‘No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because is my son – and that is wrong,’ he continued.
Biden says that there has been an effort to ‘break Hunter’ and destroy what he says is five-and-a-half years of sobriety.
‘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.’
The president didn’t shy away from pointing out that the love of his son guided his decision-making but stressed that he was being ‘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.’
Hunter was last seen on holiday with his father and the rest of the Bidens on Nantucket in Rhode Island.
‘I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.’
Hunter released a statement of his own, credited to his full name, ‘Robert Hunter Biden.’
‘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,’ he said.
‘Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends.’
‘In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages. 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.’
‘I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.’
The pardon will cover both the gun charges and Hunter’s guilty plea.
For months, the nation wondered if the president would pardon his ne’er-do-well son over his convictions on federal gun and tax fraud charges.
NBC News first reported on Sunday night that Biden was planning to pardon his son. Minutes later, the White House released a statement.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Donald Trump slammed what they called the Democrat-controlled justice system but didn’t appear to disagree with the decision.
‘The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system. That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people,’ Steven Cheung told DailyMail.com.
However, on Truth Social, he was a little angrier, wondering if the same courtesy would be given to those charged for their acts at the Capitol on January 6.
He wrote: ‘Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!’
Biden was scheduled to be sentenced in the Delaware gun case on December 13, and on December 16 in the California tax case.
His father and even Donald Trump have been pestered on the issue, with Trump suggesting it wasn’t out of the question despite having railed against the First Son for years.
Abbe Lowell, a key member of 54-year-old Hunter’s legal team had begun making his client’s case to the press that he was a political prisoner.
‘This is a seven-year saga propelled by an unrelenting political desire to use a son to hurt his father,’ Lowell said.
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the president blanket power to pardon any federal crime, something most outgoing presidents do in their final days in office, some controversial, others routine.
Other presidents have issued controversial pardons – usually in the final days of their presidency.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he had ‘committed or may have committed’ in the Watergate scandal. This was the first pre-emptive pardon by a president.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people on his last day in office including billionaire Marc Rich, who had been a fugitive for decades for fraud related to making illegal oil deals and not paying more than $48 million in taxes.
Family pardons are also not unheard of in presidential history. Before he left office, Clinton granted brother Roger a controversial presidential pardon for a 1985 cocaine-trafficking conviction.
Trump himself pardoned Charles Kushner, father of son-in-law and ex-advisor Jared, before leaving office in 2020. Kushner was just yesterday named the US ambassador to France.
In the last 12 hours of his presidency, Donald Trump pardoned and commuted the sentences of 144 people, including former advisors Stephen Bannon and Roger Stone, as well as the rapper Lil Wayne.
Lowell has reiterated that the only reason Hunter is facing conviction is out of political gain for his father’s enemies.
‘It is a wild and terrifying story that serves as a stark warning of what is to come as some of the same Republicans who targeted Hunter prepare to resume power and have stated their intention to use the government’s vast power to pursue their perceived enemies,’ Lowell told the Washington Post.
In June, Biden repeated his vow not to pardon his son in his first public comments on Hunter since last week’s conviction. Hunter could face up to 25 years in prison.
He also said he was satisfied his son got a fair trial and reiterated his support for him.
‘I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He’s one of the brightest, most decent men I know. And I am satisfied that I’m not going to do anything. I said I would abide by the jury decision. I will do that. And I will not pardon him,’ Biden said on Thursday.
And he answered a simple ‘no’ when asked directly if he would commute Hunter’s sentence.
Both Biden and his spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre have repeatedly denied Hunter will be pardoned by his father.
When asked in November – just over 24 hours after the presidential election was called in Trump’s favor – whether Biden has any intention of pardoning his son, Jean-Pierre responded, ‘We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.’
Hunter Biden has grappled with addiction issues for years.
The trial revealed some of the family’s darkest moments as they dealt with Hunter’s drug use.
In the June gun purchase case, jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
Hunter faces up to 25 years in prison although as a first-time offender he would not get anywhere near the maximum, and there‘s no guarantee the judge would send him to jail.
In the September tax case, Hunter could face up to 17 years in prison for his crimes, which include tax evasion, filing fraudulent tax returns, and failing to pay taxes. The judge also could impose a hefty fine, perhaps as much as $1.3 million.
The judges in both cases were appointed by President Trump.
Hunter is a first-time offender. He has been sober for years and paid his taxes and fines, although that money was provided by a wealthy friend.
President Biden is known to be torn up about the situation.
Hours after Hunter’s conviction in June in the Delaware gun case, President Biden flew to Wilmington to spend the night with his family before leaving for the G7 summit in Italy.
And he also got a few minutes with his son on the tarmac, hugging him in full view of the cameras.