US President Joe Biden has made saving his son from prison one of his last major acts in office (Image: Getty Images)
President has announced that he will pardon his son Hunter, despite repeatedly claiming that he would leave it up to US justice. In a move on Sunday night, just days before Hunter’s initial sentencing hearing, the 82-year-old President moved to address the upcoming legal challenges facing his offspring.
was found guilty on federal firearms charges in June and pleaded guilty to tax fraud in September after a succession of legal woes and accusations. His for gun-related offences is set to be addressed on December 12, with the tax evasion case following shortly after on December 16.
Convinced that partisan politics tainted the investigation into his son – instigated by adversaries – President Biden said he was concerned about fairness. “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,” stated Biden.
He continued: “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.”
Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter to avoid federal gun charges and a guilty tax evasion plea (Image: Getty)
In June, while Hunter was on trial for the gun charges, Biden stated to the press: “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
Last month, after triumphed in the presidential race, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that Biden would not issue a pardon for his son, reports the That same month, Hunter was declared guilty of three felonies in a Delaware federal court.
Prosecutors alleged that as the President’s son purchased a firearm in 2018, he falsely denoted on a federal form that he had never used illegal drugs or been addicted to them despite previously battling a crack cocaine addiction. Then come September, Hunter was slated to face trial in California over allegations of not paying $1.4 million in taxes.
But prior to reaching trial, Hunter entered a guilty plea for misdemeanor and felony charges mere hours before jury selection was to begin.
Hunter was potentially looking at a maximum of 17 years behind bars for tax evasion and up to 25 years for the firearms charges. However, there was also a chance he could have escaped a prison sentence altogether.