US President, Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden for his firearms and tax convictions.
The decision marks a reversal for the President, who had repeatedly said that he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son or commute his sentence.
In the statement, Biden said that he had long maintained that he 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.”
However, he asserted that it is clear that Hunter “was treated differently”, adding that the charges in the case came about only after several of his political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack him and oppose his election.
“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.”
Joe Biden
Explaining his decision, Biden stated that throughout his career he had followed the principle of telling the public the truth out of a belief that Americans are 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…, there was no sense in delaying it further.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
Joe Biden
Biden’s announcement comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to face sentencing for a string of felonies related to making a false statement about his drug use during a gun background check and failing to pay at least $1.4m in taxes.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced for his conviction on federal gun charges on 12 December. He was scheduled to be sentenced in the tax case four days later.
The tax charges carried up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges were punishable by up to 25 years, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible the President’s son would have avoided prison time entirely.
In justifying the pardon, Biden said that people are “almost never” brought to trial for wrongly filling out a gun purchase form and that those who pay their taxes late usually receive “non-criminal resolutions.”
Biden’s pardon covers not only his son’s tax and firearms convictions but also any other offences he has “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
In a statement, Hunter Biden said that mistakes he had made in the throes of addiction had been “exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport.”
“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.”
Hunter Biden
Under the US Constitution, Presidents have almost unlimited power to grant clemency to people convicted of federal crimes.
Pardon Denounced
However, US President-elect, Donald Trump blasted the pardon.
Referring to people convicted of crimes related to the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social, “Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” He added, “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”
James Comer, one of the Republicans leading congressional investigations into Biden’s family, also denounced the pardon in a post on X.
“The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied about to the American people.
“It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”
James Comer
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