U.S. President Biden Pardons His Son Hunter Biden

COLOMBO (News 1st) - U.S. President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions, marking a reversal as he prepares to leave office.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement. It is a “full and unconditional pardon,” according to a copy of the executive grant of clemency.

This official grant of clemency cannot be rescinded by President-elect Donald Trump.

By pardoning his son, Joe Biden has reneged on a public promise that he made repeatedly before and after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. The president and his top White House spokesperson said unequivocally, including after Trump won the 2024 election, that he would not pardon Hunter Biden or commute his sentence.

The pardon means Hunter Biden won’t be sentenced for his crimes, and it eliminates any chance that he’ll be sent to prison, which was a possibility. The judges overseeing his cases will likely cancel the sentencing hearings, which were slated for December 12 in the gun case and December 16 in the tax case.

The broadly crafted pardon explicitly grants clemency for the tax and gun offenses from his existing cases, plus any potential federal crimes that Hunter Biden may have committed “from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.” This time frame, importantly, covers his entire tenure on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and much of his other overseas work, including in China. He had faced scrutiny for his controversial foreign business dealings, and Trump has repeatedly said he should be prosecuted for his activities in Ukraine and elsewhere.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers on Sunday night formally notified the judges in his criminal cases about the pardon and he said in a sworn affidavit that he has accepted the pardon from his father.

In new court filings, Hunter Biden’s lawyers told the judges in both of his cases that the pardon requires dismissal of the Indictment against him with prejudice and adjournment of all future proceedings in this matter.

Joe Biden said in his statement that he decided to issue the pardon because his son was selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted, saying that Hunter was treated differently from people who commit similar crimes.

In a social media post yesterday, Trump called the pardon “such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” In an apparent joke, Trump also asked whether the pardon includes his supporters who attacked the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021, insurrection whom he has promised to pardon once he’s back in office.