WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has long vowed not to forgive his son Hunter, who was set to be sentenced this month on gun and tax convictions. But on Sunday the president did it anyway.
The far-reaching pardon covers not only Hunter Biden’s convictions in two cases in Delaware and California, but also all other ‘crimes against the United States that he has committed or may have committed or participated in in the period from 1 January 2014 to December 1. , 2024.”
Biden is certainly not the first president to use his pardon powers to benefit those close to him. But it was still a surprising turnaround for a man who promised to restore norms and respect for the rule of law.
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What exactly is a pardon?
The U.S. Constitution says a president has the power to grant clemency, which includes both pardons and commutations. A pardon forgives federal criminal offenses; a commutation reduces the fines, but is not as drastic. The power has its roots in English law – the king could grant mercy to anyone – and reached across the ocean to the American colonies and lingered there. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the power of presidential pardons is very broad. And presidents use this power frequently: Donald Trump granted 237 pardons during his four years in office and Barack Obama granted clemency 1,927 times in his eight years. Presidents have pardoned drug offenses, fraud convictions and Vietnam-era draft dodgers, among other things.
But a president can only pardon federal offenses, not state crimes. Impeachment convictions are also not pardonable.
What crimes was Hunter Biden accused of?
Hunter Biden was convicted in June of lying on a federal form when he bought a gun in 2018 and swore he was not a drug user. Just months later, he pleaded guilty to charges related to a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes. Prosecutors alleged he lived a lavish life while flouting the tax code and spending his money on things like strippers and luxury hotels — “in short, everything except his taxes.”
Both cases stemmed from a period in Hunter Biden’s life when he struggled with drug and alcohol abuse before getting sober in 2019.
After salacious and unflattering details about Hunter Biden’s life emerged during the gun trial, the president’s son said he agreed to plead guilty to the tax charges to spare his family another embarrassing criminal trial.
The tax trial was also expected to reveal details about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which Republicans have seized on to try to portray the Biden family as corrupt.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced this month in the two cases by judges in California and Delaware who were nominated to the court by Trump.
Special Counsel David Weiss’ office had not said whether prosecutors planned to seek prison time. The tax charges carried a penalty of 17 years behind bars and the gun charges carried up to 25 years in prison, although federal sentencing guidelines were expected to require much less time and it was possible that the younger Biden would have avoided prison time entirely.
Didn’t Biden say he wouldn’t pardon his son?
Yes. Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation since 2020. He reached a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to tax crimes last year and would have avoided prosecution in the gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years.
But the plea hearing quickly unraveled when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. He was subsequently charged in the two cases, and he claimed he was singled out because he is the president’s son.
The president told reporters earlier this summer that he would not pardon his son.
“I am extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the smartest and most decent men I know,” he said. “I adhere to the jury’s decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said on November 8 that Biden would not pardon his son.
Why did Biden break his promise?
In his statement on Sunday, Biden said his son had been “selectively and unfairly prosecuted.” Biden – like Hunter Biden – is concerned about his political opponents.
Moreover, the president is no longer standing for election. He did not promise a pardon before withdrawing from the presidential race in June.
In his statement, the president said it was clear that his son was treated differently from other defendants in similar circumstances. The plea deal unraveled and Biden’s political opponents took credit for pressuring the trial, he said.
“No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases could come to any conclusion other than that Hunter was singled out solely because he is my son – and that is wrong. Efforts have been made to break Hunter, who has been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of persistent attacks and selective prosecution. By breaking Hunter, they tried to break me too – and there’s no reason to think it will stop there. Enough is enough.”
Have other presidents pardoned their relatives or friends?
Yes. In his final weeks as president, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. He also pardoned several allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Trump announced plans this weekend to appoint the elder Kushner as U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.
President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton in 2001 after serving a prison sentence for drug abuse. Clinton also pardoned his former business partner Susan McDougal, who was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the Whitewater real estate deal.
