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OAN Staff James Meyers
8:21 AM – Monday, December 2, 2024
President Joe Biden signed a pardon for his son Hunter Sunday after he was convicted of federal gun charges and federal tax evasion charges earlier this year, the president announced.
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The 82-year-old claimed that he was going through with the pardon after he continued to watch his son being “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
“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,” Biden said in his statement.
The turnaround comes after Biden repeatedly stated that he would not pardon his son Hunter.
The 54-year-old Biden pleaded guilty to nine counts of federal tax evasion charges that added up to $1.4 million and was found guilty of three federal gun charges in June after he was charged with possession of a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs.
“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,” Biden said in a statement.
“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 outgoing commander-in-chief argued his son “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,” Biden said. “Enough is enough.”
The pardon’s language, which was posted online along with the 46th president’s statement, covers all offenses committed by Hunter against the U.S. between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024, including any crimes for which he has not been charged.
He said the criminal problems for Hunter only began after several of his political opponents in Congress “instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.”
Additionally, Hunter accepted a probation-only plea bargain last June, only after IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler alleged a far-reaching Justice Department cover-up, including tipping off Hunter’s lawyers to a planned search and barring inquiries into Joe Biden’s role.
The president’s son walked away from a deal last July during a “dramatic” courtroom appearance, which his attorneys demanded for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate his father.
However, Hunter was never charged with FARA violations, despite charges last year against a businessman who worked with one of the same Chinese firms. The pardon prevents Hunter from facing those foreign-lobbying charges, which have five-year statutes of limitation.
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss was elevated to the rank of special counsel to refile charges after the plea deal fell through, which he did in Delaware and Los Angeles. Hunter was awaiting sentencing in both cases.
President-elect Donald Trump responded to the pardoning, stating that move was “such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice.”
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump asked, referring to those convicted in the January 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Biden said.
Hunter Biden’s legal team filed Sunday night in both Los Angeles and Delaware asking the judges handling his gun and tax cases to immediately dismiss them, citing the pardon.
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