WASHINGTON, Dec 2 — US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, despite previously promising he would not do so, reported German news agency (dpa).
The president's 54-year-old son had pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in a second trial after being found guilty of charges relating to gun possession and drug use. The sentences were to be announced later in December.
The US president said that, while he had promised he would not interfere with decisions by the Department of Justice, “it is clear that Hunter was treated differently".
"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 — and that is wrong," the older Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June for purchasing a firearm in 2018 while addicted to crack cocaine, marking the first time a sitting president's child has been convicted of a crime. He is set to be sentenced on December 12.
He is also scheduled to be sentenced on December 16 for federal tax evasion charges, to which he pleaded guilty in September, involving over US$1.4 million in unpaid taxes.
Special counsel David Weiss, who served as the attorney for Delaware under former US President Donald Trump, launched an investigation into Hunter Biden in 2018 and brought both indictments in 2023.
— Bernama
