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President Joe Biden has announced that he pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who was set to be sentenced this month for federal tax and gun convictions.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden said in a statement on Sunday (December 1), per CNN.
According to a copy of the executive grant of clemency, Biden granted his son a "full and unconditional pardon," meaning it cannot be rescinded by President-elect Donald Trump.
The president's pardon comes after Hunter was convicted in June of illegally buying and possessing a gun as a drug user. In September, Hunter also pleaded guilty to nine tax offenses after he allegedly failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes while he spent money on escorts, strippers, cars, and drugs.
Special counsel David Weiss, who Trump appointed as US attorney for Delaware, opened an investigation into Hunter in 2018 and filed both indictments in 2023. Hunter's cases revolved around his longtime struggle with drug addiction and alcoholism.
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter Biden said in a statement on Sunday.
“In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded,” he continued. “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Biden has repeatedly pledged to not pardon his son. Even after Trump won the 2024 election, the president emphasized that he wouldn't pardon Hunter or commute his sentence. As part of the pardon, Hunter has been granted clemency for the tax and gun offenses from his existing cases along with any potential federal crimes he may have committed “from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
In a statement, Biden said he decided to pardon his son because he was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted” and "treated differently” from people who have committed similar crimes.
The president said his political opponents “instigated” the charges “to attack me and oppose my election.”
“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. … I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision," Biden said.
Republicans, including Trump, condemned Biden for pardoning his son. In a social media post on Sunday night, Trump said the pardon was “such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”
Others called out the hypocrisy in the GOP response, pointing to Trump's indictments and incitement of the January 6 Capitol riots.
See how social media users reacted to Hunter Biden being pardoned below.
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