President Joe Biden has granted a pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted earlier this year of felony gun charges in Delaware and entered a guilty plea for tax evasion in California.
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” the president said in a statement issued Sunday night. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
This decision comes just weeks ahead of Hunter Biden’s scheduled sentencing hearings for the gun and tax offenses, set for December 12 and December 16, respectively. Previously, President Biden had stated that he would refrain from using his presidential authority to pardon his son or alter his sentence following the convictions.
“I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest most decent men I know,” Biden said in June after Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial. “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
Hunter Biden’s legal challenges have attracted significant media attention since he revealed he was under federal investigation in December 2020, just a month after his father’s presidential election victory.
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In June, he was convicted in a Delaware federal court on three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Prosecutors alleged that he had falsely claimed on a federal form that he was not using drugs illegally or struggling with addiction. Later, in September, he entered a guilty plea to both misdemeanor and felony charges before his trial in California was set to commence, facing allegations of failing to pay over $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019.
Prior to President Biden’s pardon, Hunter Biden was facing a potential sentence of up to 25 years in prison for the felony gun charges, along with a maximum of 17 years for the tax-related offenses.
