President Biden pardons his son, Hunter Biden
On Dec. 1, President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, shortly after going on vacation. This is making him exempt from any possible prison sentence for his federal felony gun and tax evasion cases. This pardon was granted the Sunday night before the younger Biden was intended to serve his punishment after pleading guilty to said charges and almost a month before Joe Biden’s presidential term.
However, Joe Biden had previously expressed that he would not pardon Hunter Biden or commute his sentence, despite having “watched [his] son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Joe Biden said in a statement released on Dec. 1. This action caps off a six year journey, as Hunter Biden first disclosed that he was being federally investigated in 2020.
In September, Hunter Biden confessed to nine counts of tax evasion, admitting to failing to pay 1.4 million dollars in taxes and, in June 2024, for which he was set to be sentenced on Dec. 16. Prosecutors also said that in 2018, he purchased a gun after lying on a federal form by saying that he was not that he was not addicted or illegally using drugs, in which he pled guilty to, according to AP News. He was expected to be sentenced on Dec. 12 for this case.
The pardon eliminates any chance for Hunter Biden to serve prison time for the two cases or any crimes against the United States that he “has committed or may have committed or taken part in,” from January 1, 2014 up to Dec. 1, 2024, according to Joe Biden’s statement on “whitehouse.gov.”
Joe Biden says in his statement that Hunter Biden was being mistreated in his trial process because of the fact that he is Joe Biden’s son. However, some Republicans viewed the pardon as a corruption of power. President Donald Trump called the move “an abuse and miscarriage of justice,” according to the BBC.
Although, Biden expresses in his statement that “enough is enough,” and that “by trying to break Hunter they’ve tried to break me,” Joe Biden said. He conveyed that there was no point in putting off this decision any longer. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Joe Biden said.
