President Biden pardons his son of gun, tax offences

In a landmark move, President Joe Biden has granted an official, unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, following his legal troubles.

The decision comes after Hunter’s conviction in June on charges of drug possession and illegal firearm ownership, making him the first child of a sitting U.S. president to face such charges.

The case centered around Hunter’s violation of laws that prohibit drug addicts from possessing firearms. In addition, Hunter pleaded guilty in September to charges of tax evasion. These legal challenges, however, were not the only hurdles he has faced over the years.

Hunter, 54, has had a complex career, working as both a lawyer and a lobbyist internationally, including in China and Ukraine. His service in the U.S. Navy ended in 2014 when he was discharged after testing positive for cocaine.

In a public statement, President Biden expressed his belief that his son had been unfairly targeted, labeling the legal proceedings as political persecution.

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“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,” Biden said.

“Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room — with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process.

“Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”

The president added that he kept his word by not interfering with “the Justice Department’s decision-making. And I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted”.

“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 — and that is wrong,” he added.

“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. Enough is enough.”

Biden said “raw politics infected the process” of his son’s trial and that he ruminated over the pardon during the weekend.

“There was no sense in delaying it further,” Biden said of the pardon.

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

This is not the first time a US president would be pardoning a member of their family.

In 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned Roger Clinton, his half-brother, for a cocaine-related offence committed in 1985.
In 2020, Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, father-in-law of Ivanka, his daughter. The president-elect recently nominated Kushner as ambassador to France.