Monday, December 23
4KG1W5Y AFP 20241126 36ND3YT v2 HighRes UsIsraelPalestiniansLebanonConflictPoliticsBide jpg

US President Joe Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden


US President Joe Biden speaks about a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the Rose Garden of the White House on November 26, 2024, in Washington, DC. - Biden on November 26 welcomed as "good news" a US and French-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The deal will come into force on November 27 at 4:00 am local time (0200 GMT), Biden said, speaking at White House as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced his ministers had approved the deal. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

US President Joe Biden
Photo: AFP / SAUL LOEB

US President Joe Biden says he has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of making false statements on a gun background check and illegally possessing a firearm and plead guilty to federal tax charges.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” he said in a statement released by the White House.

The White House had said repeatedly that Biden would not pardon or commute the sentences of his son, a recovering drug addict who became a target of Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump.

(FILES) Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, leaves court after his guilty plea in his trail on tax evasion in Los Angeles, California, on September 5, 2024. - US President Joe Biden on December 1, 2024 said he had issued an official pardon for his son Hunter, who is facing sentencing for two criminal cases related to tax evasion and the purchase of a firearm.

Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, leaves court after his guilty plea in his trail on tax evasion in Los Angeles, California, on 5 September 2024.
Photo: AFP / ROBYN BECK

“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,” Biden said.

“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.”

Biden said he had made the decision over the weekend. The president, his wife, Jill Biden, and their family including Hunter, spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts and returned to Washington on Saturday night.

“Here’s the truth: 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,” Biden said.

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

– Reuters



Source link