Joe Biden Pardons Son Hunter on Gun and Tax Charges, Says He Was ‘Singled Out’ and ‘Unfairly Prosecuted’

Joe Biden Pardons Son Hunter on Gun and Tax Charges, Says He Was ‘Singled Out’ and ‘Unfairly Prosecuted’

On Sunday, Dec. 1, the president, 82, announced in a statement that he would be pardoning Hunter, 54, writing, “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.”

“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,” Biden continued.

“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,” the president wrote. “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.”

The pardon is expected to apply to Hunter’s federal firearm case and his nine tax charges. In his gun case, a Delaware jury found him guilty of three charges related to how he unlawfully obtained and possessed a gun in 2018 while addicted to narcotics in July. In September, Hunter offered to plead guilty to the tax charges, which allege that he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes, instead spending the money on “an extravagant lifestyle,” including expensive hotels and cars, drugs and more.