President Biden pardons son Hunter Biden

Washington — President Biden announced late Sunday that he signed a pardon for his son Hunter Biden, in a major reversal in the final weeks of his presidency.

Mr. Biden repeatedly pledged not to pardon his son, who was convicted in June of three separate felony charges related to his purchase of a revolver in 2018 when he was battling an addiction to illegal drugs, which he lied about on paperwork to obtain the gun, and pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges in a separate case September.

“Today, 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,” Mr. Biden said in a statement Sunday night.

The president argued that “Hunter was treated differently” than others under similar circumstances, claiming that the charges were brought after “several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.”

“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,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden had committed before dropping out of the race for president not to pardon his son, saying in an interview with ABC News in June that he had ruled it out. After opting to leave the race the next month, the White House maintained that Mr. Biden had no plans to pardon his son, though the possible political consequences of the decision had lessened.  

The White House said as recently as last month that the president still had no plans to pardon his son.

“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. 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,” Hunter Biden said in a statement Sunday night. 

“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 president’s son said.

Biden was set to be sentenced for the gun convictions on Dec. 12 and on Dec. 16 for the tax evasion charges.

Biden was indicted on three felony gun charges in September after a proposed plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have had him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a diversion program instead of pleading guilty to a felony gun possession count fell apart.

He was accused of lying on paperwork and illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while he was addicted to crack cocaine. Federal law prohibits users of illegal drugs from owning firearms. 

Prosecutors said the president’s son lied about his drug use on a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form when he bought a revolver and several other items from a Wilmington, Delaware, gun store on Oct. 12, 2018.

In a separate case in California, a federal grand jury last December charged Biden with three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor offenses. The president’s son was accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes while living an “extravagant lifestyle.”   

According to the indictment, Biden made some $7 million in income from his foreign business dealings from 2016 through 2019. He was accused of spending nearly $5 million during that same time period on “everything but his taxes,” including on drugs, escorts, luxury hotels, cars and clothing. Biden was accused of falsely listing those purchases as business expenses.