President Joe Biden has granted an official, unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, who faced multiple convictions in recent months, including drug charges, illegal firearm possession, and tax evasion.
Hunter Biden, 54, became the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
He pleaded guilty in September to tax evasion after being convicted earlier in June for drug-related offenses and illegally possessing a firearm—a violation of laws prohibiting drug addicts from owning guns.
In a statement issued on Monday, President Biden described the legal proceedings against his son as politically motivated.
“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,” Biden said.
The president pointed to the unraveling of a plea deal Hunter had reached with the Department of Justice as a result of political pressure from his adversaries.
“Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases,” Biden added.
President Biden maintained that his decision reflects both his role as a father and his belief in the unjust treatment of his son.
“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,” the president said.
Biden further emphasized that Hunter, who has been sober for over five years, had been the target of “unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.”
“There has been an effort to break Hunter… 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,” he added.
This is not the first time a U.S. president has pardoned a family member. In 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, for a cocaine-related conviction dating back to 1985.
In 2020, President Donald Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, who had been convicted of tax evasion, witness tampering, and illegal campaign donations.
