Joe Biden Pardons Son Hunter, Says He Was “Singled Out” In “Selective Prosecution”
President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter, concluding that he was “singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong.”
In a statement, Biden said, “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.”
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The White House had previously said that Biden did not plan on pardoning the younger Biden, who faces sentencing on gun and tax charges. The president himself said that he would not pardon his son.
In September, Hunter Biden plead guilty to nine federal tax charges, with sentencing scheduled for later this month. Prosecutors claim that he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a period from 2016 to 2019, when they said that he instead “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle.” His attorney, though, said at the time, “Like millions of Americans, Hunter was late in filing and paying his taxes. Unlike those millions of Americans, he was charged criminally for his failures that occurred during the depths of his addiction to drugs and alcohol.”
Last summer, Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony counts related to the purchase of a gun in 2018, when he was still in the throes of addiction. That sentencing was delayed to this month.
In his statement, the president said, “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.”
He added, “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.”
Hunter Biden was a target on the right for years, including during the 2020 and 2024 elections. House Republicans focused their efforts to impeach Joe Biden on his son’s business dealings in Ukraine and China, but ultimately were unable to produce a case that the president had benefited financially from his son’s ventures.
Hunter Biden said in a statement, “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. Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends. In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages. In recovery, we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded. 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.”
Donald Trump reacted to the pardon by writing on Truth Social, “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump has previously said that he would pardon those who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
NBC News first broke the news of the pardon.
The text of Biden’s pardon of his son is below.
Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America
To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:
Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto
ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN
A Full and Unconditional Pardon
For those offenses 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, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.
Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.
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