Biden pardons son Hunter on gun, tax charges

United States President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges in the country.

The president’s pardon is a reversal after pledging to stay out of legal proceedings against his son.

“Today (Sunday), I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. 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 on Sunday, December 1, 2024.

The White House had said repeatedly that Biden would not pardon or commute sentences for Hunter, a recovering drug addict who became a target of Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump.

“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,” Biden said in a statement released shortly before leaving for a trip to Africa.

The grant of clemency said Biden had granted “a full and unconditional” pardon to Hunter Biden for any offenses in a window from January 1, 2014, to December 1, 2024.

Hunter faced sentencing for the false statements and gun convictions this month.

In September, he pleaded guilty to federal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers, and luxury items. He was scheduled for sentencing in that case on December 16.

Biden’s son Hunter indicted on gun charges

“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 said in a statement on Sunday, adding he had remained sober for more than five years.

“In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages… 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,” he stated.

Republicans criticized the president’s move, Reuters reported.

“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!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site, referring to those convicted for storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, after Trump claimed falsely that he had won the 2020 election.

“Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence-peddling activities,” said Representative James Comer, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

The president, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, said his opponents had sought to break Hunter with selective prosecution.

He said people were almost never brought to trial for felony charges for how they filled out a gun form, and said others who were late in paying taxes because of addiction but paid them back with interest and penalties, as his son had, typically received non-criminal resolutions to their cases.

The Star