United States President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter for his firearms and tax convictions despite previously pledging not to use his presidential authority to grant him clemency.
Biden said on Sunday that his son had been “singled out” and “selectively, and unfairly” prosecuted due to his family name.
Explaining his decision, Biden said that throughout his career he had followed the principle of telling the public the truth out of a belief that Americans are fair-minded.
Biden’s announcement comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to face sentencing for a string of felonies related to making a false statement about his drug use during a gun background check and failing to pay at least $1.4m in taxes.
The outgoing president’s decision is likely to stoke debate about the independence of the US justice system, which is already in the spotlight amid warnings by critics that President-elect Donald Trump intends to use law enforcement agencies stacked with loyalists to target his political rivals.
Trump, who faced a string of criminal cases before his reelection, all but assured that he would not suffer serious legal consequences, blasted the pardon as an abuse of power.
The younger Biden had faced a maximum of 25 years in prison in the tax case and 17 years in the firearms case, though he would have almost certainly received much less severe punishment under federal sentencing guidelines.
Special counsel David Weiss, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to probe allegations against Hunter Biden, brought the charges after an earlier plea deal collapsed under scrutiny from a judge.
Biden’s pardon covers not only his son’s tax and firearms convictions but also any other offences he has “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.”.
In June, Biden had flatly ruled out the possibility of granting his son a pardon or commuting his sentence.