KUALA LUMPUR — US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter who was convicted of gun charges, reversing his earlier stance not to interfere in the case.
Biden, 82, signed the pardon yesterday and issued a statement posted on the White House website, stating that his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted”.
“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,” Biden’s statement said.
Hunter, 54, had been convicted of making false statements on a gun background check and of illegal firearm possession. He also plead guilty to federal tax charges.
Biden said that Hunter was “treated differently” in these charges as people are “almost never brought to trial…solely for how they filled out a gun form” especially if there are no aggravating factors.
On the federal tax charges, Biden said those who have been late paying taxes “because of serious addictions” – in reference to his son’s past drug use – had usually paid them back with interest and penalties and are “typically given non-criminal resolutions”.
Biden said he believed in the justice system but while wrestling with his decision to pardon Hunter, cane to believe that politics had “infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice”.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” he said.
Biden’s decision, made over the weekend, comes ahead of sentencing for Hunter on Dec 12 on the gun charges. Sentencing on the federal tax evasion charges was to be handed down on Dec 16.
In June, after Hunter pled guilty to the gun charges, Biden said he would not grant a pardon.
Just last month, White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre was reported telling media that this position had not changed. – December 2, 2024