President Biden had stated that he would not forgive his son Hunter Biden several times before changing course on Sunday, ultimately pardoning Hunter for all crimes against the United States that he committed or may have committed between January 1, 2024 and December 1, 2024.
On June 6, Biden said he would not forgive Hunter during an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir in Normandy, France, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Regarding the conviction of President-elect Trump in the Manhattan “hush money” trial, Biden told “MAGA Republicans” to “stop undermining the rule of law.” Stop undermining the institutions.”
Muir, noting that Hunter himself was in the middle of a federal trial at the time, then asked Biden, “Will you accept the jury’s outcome, whatever it is?”
“Yes,” Biden said flatly.
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“Have you ruled out a pardon for your son?” Muir asked.
President Biden and son Hunter Biden step out of a bookstore while shopping in Nantucket, Massachusetts on November 29, 2024. (MANDEL EN/AFP via Getty Images)
Again the president responded, “Yes.”
About a week later, Biden told a news conference on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy that he would not use his presidential powers to reduce Hunter’s sentence.
A date for Hunter’s sentencing on federal weapons charges had not been set at the time, although the three charges carried a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated by Trump, is said to have made the decision.
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“I am extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the smartest, most decent men I know,” Biden said during the June 13 press conference. “I adhere to the jury’s decision. will do so, and I will not pardon him.”
Biden, who will leave office on January 20, on Sunday granted Hunter a “full and unconditional pardon” for crimes against the United States “which he committed or may have committed or participated in during the period from January 1, 2014 to January 1, 2014. December 1, 2024.” That includes, but is not limited to, those prosecuted by Special Counsel David Weiss.
Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen leave court following his guilty plea in his tax evasion investigation in Los Angeles, California, on September 5, 2024. (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
“The charges in his cases came only after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said in a statement. “Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal negotiated by the Justice Department unraveled in court — with some of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for putting political pressure on the trial. Had the plea deal stood, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution to Hunter’s cases.”
“Efforts have been made to break Hunter, who has been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” he added. “By breaking Hunter, they tried to break me too – and there’s no reason to think it will stop here.”
Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced this month in two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him jail time fell apart under the supervision of a judge. Under the original deal, Hunter had to plead guilty to tax crimes and would have avoided prosecution in a gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years.
The plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. Hunter was subsequently charged in the two cases.
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Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs . He was scheduled to stand trial in September in a California case in which he was accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes, but he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and misdemeanor charges hours after the jury selection was about to begin.
House Republicans also tried to use Hunter’s history of foreign business ventures in a since-abandoned effort to oust his father, who has long denied being involved in his son’s dealings or benefiting from them in any way.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
