Biden pardoned son Hunter in part to fend off more attacks, says White House

Controversial move comes in advance of Hunter Biden’s December 16th sentencing

US president Joe Biden with his son Hunter Biden. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP
US president Joe Biden with his son Hunter Biden. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP

The White House said on Monday that US President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter in part because of concern that his political opponents would continue to persecute the younger Biden in the future, including after he left the Oval Office.

Mr Biden, a Democrat whose term ends on January 20th when Republican president-elect Donald Trump takes office, signed an unconditional pardon for Hunter Biden on Sunday and said he believed his son had been selectively prosecuted and targeted unfairly by the president’s political opponents.

Mr Biden said in the past that he would not pardon his son. In an interview with ABC News in June, Biden replied “yes” when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter.

The White House also repeatedly said the president would not pardon or commute sentences for Hunter Biden, who was prosecuted for tax offences and gun charges.

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White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday defended the president’s action and said Mr Biden believed Hunter faced further grief from his adversaries, without naming them.

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“One of the reasons the president did the pardon is because they didn’t seem like his political opponents would let go of it. It didn’t seem like they would move on,” she told reporters on Air Force One during a trip to Angola. “They would continue to go after his son. That’s what he believed.”

Ms Jean-Pierre stressed that this was not the first time a president had pardoned a family member. Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger before he left office, and Mr Trump his daughter’s father-in-law Charles Kushner.

She said Mr Biden believed in the department of justice despite his statement that his son’s process in the judicial system was “infected with politics”.

“Two things could be true: the president does believe in the justice ... system and ... department of justice, and he also believes that his son was singled out politically,” she said.

She declined to give further details on why or how Mr Biden had changed his mind, or whether the recent election that put Republicans in charge of the White House and both branches of Congress played a role.

Republicans have mostly criticised Mr Biden’s decision, accusing him of corruption, while Democratic lawmakers have been split, with some suggesting he put family over country, and others pointing to Mr Trump’s nominees for judiciary positions as a rationale.

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty in September to federal tax charges in federal court in Los Angeles and was due to be sentenced December 16th under Mark C Scarsi, a judge nominated by Mr Trump. A jury found him guilty in June of making false statements on a gun background check; he was due to be sentenced for those charges this month as well.

Mr Biden said on Sunday that his son had been selectively prosecuted and treated differently than others with similar situations. “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 said.

Late on Sunday, Hunter Biden’s attorney filed to dismiss the indictments against him.

The president’s full and unconditional pardon “requires dismissal of the indictment against” Hunter Biden, the lawyer wrote in filings related to criminal tax and gun cases against him. – Reuters