Politics
State of the Union: President Joe Biden had earlier pledged not to take clemency on Hunter.
President Joe Biden gave his son, Hunter Biden, a full and unconditional pardon Sunday night.
The younger Biden had been found guilty on three felony charges in June in a federal case surrounding his acquisition and possession of a firearm, and pleaded guilty (using an Alford plea) to federal tax evasion charges in September.
In his statement, Biden alleged that the charges against his son were politically motivated.
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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,” President Biden said in his statement about the pardon. “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.”
Prior to the pardon, Hunter was facing up to 25 years in prison on firearms charges and up to 17 years in prison on tax charges.
Biden had earlier pledged not to pardon his son. “I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know,” the president stated in June, after his son’s conviction in his federal gun trial. “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”