US President Biden pardons son Hunter in criminal cases, breaking previous vows on family benefits

The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges.

Backtracking from his past promises of not using extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members, outgoing US President Joe Biden pardoned son Hunter on Sunday night, sparing him a possible jail term for federal felony gun and tax convictions.

President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024. (AP)

Biden had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California.

The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

With this, the long-running legal saga surrounding President Joe Biden's son comes to a close. Hunter Biden publicly revealed he was under federal investigation in December 2020, just a month after his father's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Biden backtracks on promise

In June, Biden firmly dismissed any possibility of a pardon or commutation for his son. As Hunter faced trial for a gun-related case in Delaware, Biden told reporters, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

Most recently, on November 8, just days after Donald Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated that no pardon or clemency would be granted to Hunter Biden, stating, “We've been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

However, in a statement issued on Sunday evening, President Biden announced, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” arguing that the prosecution was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“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,” adding, “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,” Biden further explained.

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” he continued, noting that he had made the decision over the weekend while spending Thanksgiving in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with Hunter and his family.