President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, saying “rough politics has tainted this process and led to a miscarriage of justice.”
In a White House statement, Biden said he believed his son Hunter was “singled out” because he was the president’s son and would otherwise have received a plea deal.
Hunter Biden faced sentencing in the coming weeks after being convicted on charges of lying about drug use in a gun permit application, and in a separate case for underpaying his taxes by more than $1 million. He has since paid the back taxes, including interest.
President Biden repeatedly said he would not pardon his son, even after withdrawing from the presidential race in July and again after Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump in November.
On November 7, two days after the election, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked at a press conference whether President Biden had plans to pardon his son, and she said the answer was “no.”
But in Sunday’s statement, Biden said he was pardoning his son because his “political opponents in Congress” helped undo an earlier plea deal that would have kept Hunter Biden out of prison.
“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Department of Justice’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I watched my son be selectively and unjustly prosecuted,” the president said.
But he added: ‘It’s clear Hunter was treated differently. The indictment in his cases only came about after several of my political opponents in Congress incited them to attack me and oppose my election.”
President Biden suggested that the criminal cases against his son threatened his sobriety.
“There have been attempts to break Hunter, who has been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution. By breaking Hunter, they tried to break me too – and there’s no reason to think it will stop here,” Biden said. “Enough is enough.”
President Biden will remain in office until President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
This story will be updated.
