Biden pardons son Hunter after weapons crimes and tax evasion convictions

President Biden pardoned his son Hunter on Sunday night, sparing him from facing a possible prison sentence for federal convictions of serious crimes related to gun possession and tax evasion.

This decision goes against what the president had previously stated, who said repeatedly that he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son or commute his sentence.

“I believe in the justice system, but while I struggled with this, I also believe that politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice, and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no point in delaying it any further. I hope the “Americans understand why a father and a president would make this decision,” Biden said in a statement in which he issued a “total and unconditional pardon.”

The pardon comes just weeks after Hunter Biden was sentenced in the firearms case and pleaded guilty to tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

This ends a long legal history for the president's son, who publicly revealed that he was the subject of a federal investigation in December 2020, just a month after his father won the election.

Biden defended his son Hunter as he fell into a serious drug addiction and plunged his family into chaos, before making amends, in recent years.

His political rivals have used Hunter’s mistakes as a tool against his father: at a hearing, lawmakers showed photos of the president's son, in which he appeared half naked and in a motel.

A federal court in Delaware found Hunter guilty of three felonies for purchasing a firearm in 2018 when prosecutors say he lied on a federal form by claiming he was neither an illegal user nor a drug addict.

In the California case, his trial was scheduled for September after being accused of not paying at least $1.4 million in taxes, but he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges hours after jury selection began.