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United States President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter for his firearms and tax convictions, although he previously promised not to use his presidential power to grant pardons.
Biden said Sunday that he has been “singled out” and “selectively and unfairly” prosecuted because of his son’s family name.
“The effort has been to break Hunter — who has remained silent for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and election litigation,” 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’s going to stop here. Enough is enough.”
Explaining his decision, Biden said that throughout his career he has followed the principle of telling the truth to the public in the belief that Americans are fair.
“Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I’ve wrestled with it, I also believe that crude politics have infected the process and led to miscarriages of justice. “And once I made that decision this weekend, there was no sense of delaying it,” Biden said.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president come to this decision.”
Biden’s announcement comes just weeks after Hunter Biden was charged with felony counts of misrepresenting drug use during a gun background check and failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. He was punished.
The outgoing president’s decision is likely to reignite a debate about the independence of the US justice system, which is already in the spotlight amid critics’ warnings that President-elect Donald Trump is using loyalists to target his political rivals. Intended to use standing law enforcement agencies.
Trump, who faced several criminal charges before his re-election but assured he would not face serious legal consequences, called the pardon an abuse of power.
“Does Joe’s pardon to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have been held for years now?” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social on January 6, 2021, referring to those convicted of crimes related to the riots at the US Capitol.
The younger Biden faced a maximum of 25 years in prison in the tax case and 17 years in the firearms case, though he almost certainly would have received a much less severe sentence under federal sentencing guidelines.
Special counsel David Weiss, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the allegations against Hunter Biden, brought the charges after an earlier plea deal was struck down under scrutiny by a judge.
In justifying the pardon, Biden said that people are “almost never” prosecuted for filling out gun purchase forms incorrectly and that people who pay their taxes late are usually “non-criminal.” Resolutions”.
The president said Republicans, who cited Hunter Biden’s overseas business activities in a botched impeachment effort, used his son’s troubles to undermine him and oppose his election.
“Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, was opened in the courtroom — a process credited to many of my political opponents in Congress for bringing political pressure to bear on the process,” Biden said. Biden said.
“Had there been a plea deal, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”
Biden’s pardon covers not only his son’s tax and firearms convictions, but also any other felony convictions he has committed or is likely to commit during the period from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024. has or participated in”.
In June, Biden flatly ruled out the possibility of pardoning his son or commuting his sentence.
“I said I’m going to abide by the jury’s decision. I’m going to do it and I’m not going to condone it,” Biden had said.
The White House reiterated Biden’s intention not to pardon his son as recently as Nov. 8, when press secretary Karen Jean-Pierre told reporters: “Our answer stands, which is no.”
In a statement on Sunday, Hunter Biden said the mistakes he made during his drug addiction were exploited “to publicly humiliate and embarrass me and my family as a political game”.
“In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never understand the mercy that has been done to us,” he said.
“I will never take the pardon I have been granted today for granted and will dedicate the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Under the US Constitution, presidents have almost unlimited power to grant pardons to people convicted of federal crimes.
US presidents have used pardons in the past to benefit family members and political allies.
Shortly before the end of his first term, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, after serving time in prison for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering.
In 2001, former US President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton Jr., who spent more than a year in prison in the 1980s for trying to sell cocaine to an undercover police officer.
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