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US President Joe Biden pardons son Hunter despite pledging not to

The News Lens in 02-12-2024 9:11am

@TheNewsLensin 

According to the departing US president, his son was "unfairly" and "selectively" prosecuted because of his family name.

Despite having previously promised not to use his presidential authority to grant his son clemency, US President Joe Biden has pardoned Hunter before his sentencing for gun and tax convictions.
Biden claimed on Sunday that because of his family name, his son had been "singled out" and "selectively, and unfairly" prosecuted.

 

Hunter Biden's decision was made just weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced for a number of felonies, including lying about his drug use during a background check for a gun and not paying at least $1.4 million in taxes. The decision by the outgoing president is likely to intensify the discussion surrounding the independence of the US legal system, which is already in the news due to concerns that Donald Trump, the president-elect of the US, intends to target his political opponents with law enforcement agencies brimming with loyalists.

 

Trump denounced the pardon as a misuse of authority on Sunday."Are the J-6 Hostages, who have been in prison for years, included in Joe's pardon of Hunter?" Trump made reference to those convicted of crimes connected to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol on his social media platform Truth.

 

"What a miscarriage of justice and abuse!"
Although he would have most likely received a far less harsh punishment under sentencing guidelines, the younger Biden had faced a maximum of 25 years in prison in the tax case and 17 years in the firearms case.
Biden defended his choice by stating that individuals who incorrectly complete a gun purchase form are "almost never" prosecuted and that late taxpayers typically receive "non-criminal resolutions."

 

"I have always operated under the straightforward tenet of telling the American people the truth. They will be impartial. The truth is that, although I have struggled with this, I also think that raw politics have corrupted the legal system and caused a miscarriage of justice. After I made this decision this past weekend, there was no point in postponing it any longer, Biden stated.
"I'm hoping that Americans will comprehend the reasoning behind a father and a president's decision."
Biden has granted his son a pardon for any other offenses he may have committed or participated in between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024, in addition to his convictions for tax and firearms.

 

Biden, Hunter Both indictments were filed in 2023 after special counsel David Weiss, the US attorney for Delaware appointed by Trump, started looking into Hunter Biden in 2018.
Biden had categorically denied in June that he would pardon his son or commute his sentence.
"I stated that I would follow the jury's verdict. Biden had declared, "I will do that and I will not pardon him."

As recently as November 8, when press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre informed reporters, "Our answer stands, which is no," the White House reaffirmed Biden's intention to not pardon his son.
Hunter Biden claimed in a statement on Sunday that his past transgressions during his battle with addiction had been "used to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport."
"If we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded, we can be given the opportunity to rebuild our lives and make amends where possible," he said.

 

"I will dedicate the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still ill and suffering, and I will never take the clemency granted to me today for granted."
Presidents have virtually unrestricted authority under the US Constitution to pardon those convicted of federal offenses.
In the past, US presidents have used pardons to help their political allies and family members.

 

Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, shortly before the end of his first term. Kushner had served jail time for convictions related to witness tampering, tax evasion, and illegal campaign contributions.
His half-brother Roger Clinton Jr., who spent more than a year in prison in the 1980s for attempting to sell cocaine to an undercover police officer, was pardoned by former US President Bill Clinton in 2001.