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CNN
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President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he has pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who faces sentencing this month for gun crimes and tax evasion convictions, in a reversal as he prepares to leave office.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said in a statement. A copy of the administrative pardon says it is a “complete and unconditional pardon.”
This formal pardon cannot be revoked by President-elect Donald Trump.
By pardoning his son, Joe Biden is breaking a promise he made repeatedly before and after withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race. The president and his top White House press secretary have made it clear that they have no intention of pardoning or commuting Hunter Biden’s sentence, even after Trump wins the 2024 election.
The pardon means that Hunter Biden will not be sentenced for his crimes and will no longer potentially be sent to prison. If the judge assigned to his case receives notice of the pardon, sentencing hearings scheduled for Dec. 12 in the gun case and Dec. 16 in the tax case are likely to be canceled.
The pardon covers possible federal crimes committed by Hunter Biden “from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024” and, importantly, for Ukrainian gas company Burisma. This applies to your entire tenure as a director. He had come under intense scrutiny for his controversial foreign dealings.
Joe Biden said in a statement that he decided to pardon his son because he was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” and that “Hunter was treated differently” than people who committed similar crimes.
The president said his political opponents in Congress had “incited” the charges “to attack me and oppose my election.”
“I hope the American people understand why my father and president are making this decision,” he said in a statement.
Hunter Biden was found guilty by a jury in June of illegal gun purchase and possession after a heart-wrenching trial that delved into his drug abuse and family dysfunction. He then pleaded guilty in September to nine tax violations stemming from $1.4 million in unpaid taxes he spent lavishly on escorts, strippers, cars and drugs.
Special Counsel David Weiss, the former U.S. attorney for Delaware appointed by President Trump, began investigating Hunter Biden in 2018 and filed both indictments in 2023. As president, Joe Biden had the power to close the investigation or direct the Justice Department to fire prosecutors. However, he kept his promise not to get involved in the matter.
Both criminal cases center on Hunter Biden’s decades-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction, which he has spoken about publicly, including in his 2021 memoir. Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued from the beginning that he was targeted by overzealous prosecutors who bowed to public pressure from Trump and Republicans in Congress.
Joe Biden had hoped to remain obedient to the judicial system, but the president has come to believe that “raw politics has infected the process,” a White House official familiar with the decision said Sunday. told CNN.
“He feels that Hunter was targeted by his political opponents to harm him, but it was cruel and he has endured enough,” the official said. “Once he achieved that, there was no point in delaying it any further.”
Particularly upsetting to the president was his belief that his political opponents were trying to “break Hunter down,” as the president said in a statement, as he was recovering from addiction. The president noted that his son remained sober for five and a half years “despite facing relentless attacks and selective prosecution.”
He said he “wrestled” with the decision and reached a conclusion this weekend. The Bidens spent the Thanksgiving holiday together on Nantucket Island, where the president and his son were seen having lunch, attending a tree lighting ceremony, and going to Mass.
Joe Biden spoke powerfully in a statement Sunday night, and not just as a father. “No rational person considering the facts of Hunter’s case could come to any other conclusion than that Hunter was chosen solely because he is my son, and that is wrong.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s MJ Lee contributed to this report.
