An unearthed video of Hunter Biden smiling and showing a confident demeanor while pressed about a possible pardon raises questions about when his father made the decision to pardon his son.
President Biden has said repeatedly throughout the year that he would not pardon his son and would not interfere with the criminal process. Despite this repeated stance, Hunter Biden maintained a confident stance even as he faced a maximum sentence of 17 years in federal prison.
A 30-second video obtained by Fox News Digital shows Hunter smiling wryly and walking away after being asked if he “expected a pardon” while leaving a restaurant in Malibu, California on July 31, 2024.
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Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden, leave the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware on June 7, 2024. Hunter Biden’s gun crime trial continues today with additional witnesses. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The video was made after Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies related to the illegal purchase of a firearm and shortly before he pleaded guilty to tax evasion. He is seen leaving Cholada Thai Cuisine at Topanga Beach, just north of Los Angeles, with longtime friend and advocate, Academy Award-winning actor and director Sean Penn.
The man making the video asks, “Hunter, how are you?” to which he simply replies, “Awesome, man.”
The man then asks, “Hunter, do you expect a pardon?” Hunter Biden doesn’t respond, but immediately flashes a broad smile when a woman who appears to be a Secret Service agent comes between the two.
The man probes further and asks, “Is that something you can answer?” at which Biden’s son continues to smile quietly as he climbs into a black vehicle.
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Hunter Biden spent the afternoon at the Malibu Farm Pier Cafe in Malibu, California on Thursday, September 7, 2023. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
“Listen, I’m a big fan, you fought the good fight,” the man says, to which Hunter Biden responds with “Thank you” and waves as the vehicle begins to drive away.
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On June 11, a federal court in Delaware convicted Hunter Biden of lying on a federal screening form and to an arms dealer about drug addiction and owning a firearm despite a drug addiction. Ahead of his tax evasion trial, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty on September 5 to three felony and two misdemeanor charges for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019.
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President Joe Biden speaks after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey Peach during a pardon ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, November 25, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)
After the sentencing in June, the president was asked whether he had ruled out pardoning his son, to which he replied: “Yes.” Speaking at the G7 summit in Washington DC, he further told reporters: “I will abide by the jury’s decision. I will. And I will not pardon him.”
The president then granted his son a full and unconditional pardon on Sunday evening for these crimes, as well as for any crimes he “may have committed or participated in” between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024.
Biden claimed his son was “singled out” and that “raw politics infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice.”
“The charges in his cases only came about after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election,” he said. “It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”
Hunter Biden’s sentencing was scheduled for December 16.
