President Joe Biden officially announced the pardoning of his son, Hunter Biden, on Sunday, December 10. Hunter Biden was convicted in June of three separate felony charges related to his purchase of a revolver in 2018. At the time he was battling an addiction to drugs, specifically crack cocaine, which he lied about on paperwork to obtain the gun. On separate charges, he also pleaded guilty to nine counts of tax evasion in September.
This pardon was deemed extremely controversial because President Biden repeatedly promised that he would respect the judicial system. “I will not pardon him,” he said in June, directly after a jury found Hunter Biden guilty. However, the opposite occurred when 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 a White House statement on December 10.
President Biden has defended his actions arguing that “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.”
He also defended pardoning Hunter Biden’s tax evasions charges on his addiction, “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.”
Despite President Biden’s reasoning, the majority of officials from the Democratic and Republican parties are not happy with the pardoning. Republicans were obviously upset as many of them pushed for his charges. In multiple X posts Republican Representative James Comer stated, “The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied about to the American people” and “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”
Democrats are also extremely angry with the decision which comes as a surprise to many Americans because political issues rarely blur party lines this drastically. According to Democratic Colorado Senator, Michael Bennet, from a tweet made on X, President Biden “put personal interest ahead of duty… this further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all”.
This pardon means that Hunter Biden will not be sentenced or go to court for his crimes. The judges overseeing his case will likely conceal his hearing, eliminating the chances of him being sent to prison which had previously been a possibility.
Junior, Riley Cathcart, has strong opinions on the topic, “I just think it's unfair… he’s basically a nepo baby. A normal person would never get pardoned but he is because he’s the president's son.”
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