President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he signed a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, despite repeated denials that he would ever do so.
The pardon was issued before Hunter Biden, 54, was expected to be sentenced for gun and tax evasion crimes later in December. He was facing the potential for prison time.
“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,” President Biden said.
Statement from President Biden
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter…”
Full statement: https://t.co/InKuzm3vMF pic.twitter.com/vhxIjr1xIe
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 2, 2024
The elder Biden and the White House had denied on multiple occasions, dating back to last year, that the president had intended to give his son Hunter Biden a pardon.
“We’ve been asked that question multiple times and our answer stands — which is no,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in early November.
In June, jurors in Delaware convicted Hunter Biden on three felony counts of lying on paperwork for a revolver and owning the firearm while being a drug addict in 2018.
A couple months later, in September, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to several federal charges related to tax crimes right before a second trial was to begin in Los Angeles.
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Hunter Biden faced charges following the collapse of what critics panned as a “sweetheart” plea deal that may have spared him from a prison sentence.
President Biden bemoaned how the plea agreement “unraveled” with “a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process.”
He also insisted, “Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases,” adding that “raw politics” tainted the process and led to “a miscarriage of justice.”
David Weiss led the investigation into Hunter Biden as a U.S. attorney and later got appointed to the role of special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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The inquiry faced intense scrutiny after IRS agents came forward as whistleblowers, claiming the tax case had been slow-walked in a way that precluded more serious charges.
POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney pointed out on X that President Biden’s pardon was “sweeping” as it covered crimes Hunter “committed or may have committed” for an 11-year period dating back to 2014.
WOW: This pardon is sweeping. Anything crimes he committed or “may have committed for an 11 year period. pic.twitter.com/b70cdxPVSP
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 2, 2024
With that extensive time frame, as noted by former House investigator and journalist Jerry Dunleavy, any potential crimes related to “foreign lobbying etc. can’t be prosecuted now.”
Hunter Biden released a statement after his father issued the pardon.
Hunter Biden statement: "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.” pic.twitter.com/IIoFykkb0v
— Matt Viser (@mviser) December 2, 2024
“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,” Hunter Biden said.
The pardon comes weeks after Donald Trump won a second White House term, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump, who faced his own criminal cases, indicated he might be open to pardoning Hunter Biden.
