Monday, December 02, 2024 - U.S. President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faced sentencing this month for federal tax and gun convictions as he prepares to leave office.
In a statement issued by the White House on Sunday, December
1, Biden said that his son had been “singled out” and “selectively, and
unfairly” prosecuted due to his family name.
This official grant of clemency cannot be rescinded by
President-elect Donald Trump.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 for
his conviction on federal gun charges. He also was set to be sentenced on Dec.
16 in a separate criminal case in which he pleaded guilty to federal tax
evasion charges in September.
"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 president issued a "full and unconditional
pardon" for any offenses Hunter Biden has “committed or may have
committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through
December 1, 2024," according to the White House statement.
The president also spoke about his son's struggles with
addiction in his statement Sunday night, saying that his political opponents
were trying to "break" him by going after Hunter.
"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," Biden said in his statement.
"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. Enough is enough."
In a separate statement, Hunter Biden said he had
"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."
Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more
than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of
my family and friends," he added. "In the throes of addiction, I
squandered many opportunities and advantages. In recovery we can be given the
opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never
take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded. I will never take the
clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have
rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering."
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump,
said, "The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the
Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing
the justice system. That system of justice must be fixed and due process must
be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as
he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American
people."
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