‘Clearly there was pressure’: Jill Biden convinced husband Joe to pardon Hunter, report claims

A report has claimed that Jill Biden may have convinced her husband, Joe Biden, to pardon his son Hunter.

A report has claimed that Jill Biden may have convinced her husband, Joe Biden, to pardon his son Hunter. Biden signed a pardon for Hunter after his son was convicted of federal gun charges and federal tax evasion charges.

Jill Biden convinced husband Joe to pardon Hunter, report claims (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

“Clearly there was pressure inside the family,” Jeff Zeleny, CNN’s chief national affairs correspondent, said during an appearance on the network on Monday, December 2.

“We were told really in recent weeks that Dr. Jill Biden – first lady Jill Biden – was very supportive of the president doing something like this,” he added. 

Zeleny claimed that Biden “was not sure” about the pardon, which suggests that the first lady’s push might as well have been the deciding factor. “Of course, I support the pardon of my son,” Jill told reporters at the White House on Monday.

Jill is considered to be one of the most influential first ladies in the last 100 years. Even if she did push Biden to pardon Hunter, she is believed to have had a difficult relationship with her stepson. In fact, in text messages discovered on Hunter’s infamous laptop, he referred to Jill as an “entitled c–t” and a “vindictive moron.”

Joe Biden’s pardons his son Hunter

In September, Hunter pleaded guilty to nine counts related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes. He was found guilty of three federal gun charges in June after being charged with possession of a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs.

Biden pardoned Hunter even after the White House repeatedly ruled out a pardon or commutation for the first son. The president claimed he took the controversial decision after watching Hunter being “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” Biden argued that  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,” Biden said. “Enough is enough.”