President Joe Biden decided to pardon his son Hunter, announcing it Sunday night, just days before Hunter Biden’s Dec. 12 sentencing. Hunter Biden was convicted on federal gun charges, possession of a firearm while being a convicted felon, and faces separate charges relating to tax evasion.
For years Biden has said he would not pardon his son, if he was convicted. But he has just a few weeks left in his term, and time is closing in on Hunter Biden. Joe Biden is the first president in history to pardon his own child. The pardon includes the entire period of the 2014 CIA-supported coup in Ukraine, a time when Hunter was appointed to the board of a Ukrainian gas company. The pardon means he will never be investigated for any criminal activity related to the Ukrainian corruption that was tied to Joe Biden himself, who has been accused of influence-peddling while vice president to Barack Obama.
President Biden’s statement about the blanket pardon was posted on the White House website under the vague heading “Statement from President Joe Biden:”
“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. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
“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. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
“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.
“For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: 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. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision. “
