Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter despite his promise not to

The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after he was convicted of the two crimes in Delaware and California. The move comes just weeks before Hunter Biden’s sentencing after being found guilty on gun charges and tax fraud, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.

That includes the long-running saga of Mr. Biden, who publicly disclosed that he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and tarnished Biden’s legacy. Biden, who repeatedly promised the American people to restore traditions and respect for the law after the first term of Trump’s administration, finally used his position to help his son, breaking his promise to the American people that he would not do this. .

In June, Mr. Biden has categorically opposed a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son was charged in a Delaware gun case, “I abide by the verdict of the jury. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

As recently as November 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out clemency or mercy for Mr. Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question several times. Our answer is, no.”

The elder Biden publicly stood by his only son when Hunter began using drugs and disrupting his family life, before coming out in recent years. His political opponents have been using Hunter Biden’s numerous crimes as a political threat against his father: at one hearing, lawmakers showed photos of the President’s son high on drugs in a water hotel.

And House Republicans tried to use Biden’s years of questionable foreign business dealings to pick up where he left off. opposition his father, who for a long time refused to be involved in his son’s activities or benefit from them in any way.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Mr. Biden said, “I believe in justice, but I am fighting this, and I also believe that politics has gotten in the way of this and that justice has not been done.”

“The charges against him came after many of my opponents in Congress urged them to attack me and challenge my election,” Biden added. “No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s case would come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out because he is my son.”

“I hope the American people will understand why the father and the president would make this decision,” Biden added, saying he made the decision this week. The president spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family, and was scheduled to depart Sunday for what would be his last trip as president before he leaves office on January 20, 2025.

Hunter Biden was found guilty in June in Delaware state court of three counts of racketeering gun in 2018 whenthe prosecutors said, he lied on a government form saying that he was not abusing or addicted to drugs.

He was due to be charged in September in a California lawsuit that accuses him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty and guilty out of the blue just hours after jury selection began.

David Weiss, the US Attorney for Delaware who was appointed by Trump and consulted with him, was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to have independence in the prosecution of the President’s son.

Hunter Biden said he is being charged in the case to save his family pain and shame after the gun case revealed more about his cocaine addiction.

Tax charges carry 17 years in prison and gun charges carry up to 25 years in prison, although federal guidelines are expected to call for less time and it was possible for them to avoid prison altogether.

Hunter Biden was due to be sentenced this month on two federal charges, which the special counsel brought after a plea from prosecutors that would have protected him from prison fell through under the judge’s supervision. Under the original deal, Hunter had to plead guilty to tax felony charges and would have avoided gun charges as long as he stayed two years without trouble.

But hearing the request he was quickly released last year when the judge complained about the strange nature of the contract. He was later tried in both cases.

The pardon covers not only those crimes, but also “any other crimes against the United States that he committed or may have committed or participated in from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024.”

Hunter Biden’s legal team this week released a 52-page white paper titled “Political Impeachment of Hunter Biden,” describing the president’s son as “a successor to attack and harm his father, both as a candidate in 2020 and later as president.” Hunter Biden’s lawyers have long argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to impeach the president’s son while Trump and other Republicans opposed the so-called “sweetheart”.

Both cases against the younger Biden were unusual. Criminal tax cases are generally rare, legal experts say, and gun cases are often repeated along with other serious crimes. In the case of Hunter Biden, his lawyers said that he had the gun for 11 days and did not fire it. And the back taxes he owed were paid back before he was charged.

Rep. James Comer, one of the Republican co-chairs leading the congressional investigation of the Biden family, criticized the president’s decision to pardon his son, saying that the evidence against Hunter is “just anecdotal.”

“It’s sad that, instead of addressing their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability,” Comer said on X, a website formerly known as Twitter.

Biden is not the first president to use his power to pardon people close to him.

In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and several of his associates who were found guilty in Robert Mueller’s special investigation into Russia. Trump over the weekend announced plans to nominate senior Kushner to be the US ambassador to France in his next reign.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, who promised to make radical changes and install people of integrity in the Department of Justice after he was indicted for his actions in trying to influence the 2020 presidential election, said in a statement, “The process of justice must be established. and due process must be restored.” to all Americans, which is what President Trump will do when he returns to the White House is a great responsibility from the American people.”

Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will not take the relief he has been given lightly and vowed to dedicate his rebuilt life to “helping those who are sick and suffering.”

“I have admitted and answered for my mistakes in the most difficult days of my life – mistakes that were used to humiliate me and my family in the political game,” Biden said.

Hunter Biden’s legal team filed a lawsuit Sunday night in Los Angeles and Delaware asking the judges handling his gun and tax charges to immediately remove them, citing the pardon.

A spokesman for Weiss did not return messages seeking comment Sunday night.