In a shocking move made on the night of Sunday, December 1, President Joe Biden broke his pledge not to pardon his son Hunter for his gun charges and did so, claiming in the statement regarding the pardon that his son had been unfairly prosecuted for political reasons and that there is no fair person who could have thought Hunter guilty and worthy of prosecution. Biden is the first president in American history to pardon his own son.
Beginning the statement, he said that he changed his mind because he saw it as unfair, writing “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
Continuing, he said, minimizing both the federal gun and tax charges brought against Hunter, “Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”
Then, pointing to the unbelievably lenient plea deal that unraveled as another justification for the pardon, he said, “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. 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.”
Then, returning to the idea that no reasonable person could prosecute Hunter, he said, “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. 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.”
Concluding, he said, “For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
As background, Biden categorically pledged not to pardon his son Hunter in the Deleware gun case in June of this year, involving his purchase of a firearm despite being addicted to illegal narcotics, telling reporters, as the Associated Press noted, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
He told David Muir the same thing, around the same time. As The American Tribune then reported: “during the interview with Muir, President Biden was asked if he will accept the result of the ongoing federal gun charges trial against Hunter that is ongoing in Wilmington. He said, “yes.” Muir then asked Biden whether, since he will accept the outcome, he will rule out pardoning his son if Hunter is convicted of the charges. Biden again answered ‘yes.‘”
Watch KJP say Biden wouldn’t pardon Hunter here:
Featured image credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hunter_Biden_and_Abbe_Lowell_in_2023.jpg
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