President Joe Biden ‘fully and unconditionally’ pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, using the power of his office to wave aside years of legal troubles, including a federal conviction for illegally buying a gun.
In a statement issued by the White House, Biden said he had decided to issue the executive grant of clemency for his son “for those offences against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.”
He said he did so because the charges against his son were politically motivated and designed to hurt the president politically, the New York Times reported.
“The charges in his cases came about only 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.
“There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” the US president added
Many of the president’s allies and critics had expected him to use the unique authority vested only in his office, even though the president’s spokeswoman had denied for months that Biden had any intention of doing so. NBC News first reported Sunday evening that Biden had in fact decided to pardon his son.
The reversal by Biden came just 50 days before he is set to leave the White House and transfer power to President-elect, Donald Trump, who spent years attacking Hunter over his legal and personal issues as a part of series of broadsides against Biden’s family.
After the president’s son was convicted on three federal felony counts for illegally purchasing a gun, Biden said he would not pardon or commute the sentence of his son.
“I said I’d abide by the jury decision,” Biden told reporters during the Group of 7 summit in June. “I will do that,” he stressed.
It is not the first time a president has used his executive power to commute the sentence of a family member. On his last day in office, President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, for old cocaine charges.
A month before leaving office, Trump pardoned his son-in-law, Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, for tax evasion and other crimes.
Both Roger Clinton and Charles Kushner had long since completed their prison terms, and the pardons were about forgiveness or vindication rather than avoiding time behind bars.
Over the weekend, Trump said that he would nominate Charles Kushner to be the US ambassador to France.
“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,” Hunter said in a 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” he said.
Biden made the decision after spending Thanksgiving with his family, and informed his aides over the last 24 hours, according to a person familiar with the situation.
According to the New York Times, two factors contributed to the timing: To issue the pardon well in advance of Hunter Biden’s sentencings in Delaware and California later this month, and to settle the matter before Christmas, the person said.
Emmanuel Addeh
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