President Joe Biden has issued a pardon for his son Hunter, who has been convicted of gun charges and pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion.
In a statement released by the White House, the US president said he had given clemency to Hunter, who was due to be sentenced later this month on two separate criminal cases.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
Image: Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion earlier this year. Pic: Reuters
Prosecutors said he lied on a form when buying a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018 by stating he was not a drug user or addict, despite having a problem with crack cocaine.
Two months later, Hunter pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. He was due to stand trial on criminal charges of failing to pay $1.4m (£1.06m) in taxes while allegedly spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers and luxury items.
The “full and unconditional pardon” covers both the gun charges and federal tax evasion, for which Hunter was due to be sentenced on 12 December and 16 December respectively.
Image: Hunter was set to be sentenced on both criminal cases later this month. Pic: Reuters
‘Enough is enough’
In the statement, President Biden continued to say the charges against Hunter “came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election”.
The 82-year-old then said Hunter’s plea deal “agreed to by the Department of Justice, unravelled in the courtroom – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process”.
Noting Hunter’s battle with addiction, the president added: “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.
“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.”
President Biden then said: “For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded.”
He insisted “I believe in the justice system,” but said he believes “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” before adding: “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision.”
It marks a U-turn from the president, however, as he had previously categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son.
President Biden told reporters as Hunter faced trial in the Delaware gun case: “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
And as recently as 8 November – the day after Donald Trump was declared the winner in the 2024 election – White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for Hunter.
“We’ve been asked that question multiple times,” she said. “Our answer stands, which is no.”
Image: Hunter was also found guilty on charges related to gun possession and drug use. Pic: Reuters
Hunter: Cases were ‘political sport’
In a separate statement on Sunday, Hunter said he has “admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction”, but said those mistakes “have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport”.
He added: “In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded.
“I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
In response to the pardon, Mr Trump took to Truth Social to call for the release of those imprisoned for the 6 Janaury riots, asking: “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?”
As of 6 August, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said approximately 562 defendants who were sentenced over charges relating to storming the Capitol Building were jailed.
The president-elect then said: “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”
The US has announced it is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America as it ramps up an operation to target alleged drug smuggling boats.
The Pentagon said in a statement that the USS Gerald R Ford would be deployed to the region to “bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere”.
The vessel is the US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier. It is currently deployed in the Mediterranean alongside three destroyers, and the group are expected to take around one week to make the journey.
There are already eight US Navy ships in the central and South American region, along with a nuclear-powered submarine, adding up to about 6,000 sailors and marines, according to officials.
It came as the US secretary of war claimed that six “narco-terrorists” had been killed in a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea overnight.
Image: A still from footage purporting to show the boat seconds before the airstrike, posted by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on X
Pete Hegseth said his military had bombed a vessel which he claimed was operated by Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan gang designated a terror group by Washington in February.
Writing on X, he claimed that the boat was involved in “illicit narcotics smuggling” and was transiting along a “known narco-trafficking route” when it was struck during the night.
All six men on board the boat, which was in international waters, were killed and no US forces were harmed, he said.
Ten vessels have now been bombed in recent weeks, killing more than 40 people.
Mr Hegseth added: “If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat al Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
While he did not provide any evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs, he did share a 20-second video that appeared to show a boat being hit by a projectile before exploding.
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Footage of a previous US strike on a suspected drugs boat earlier this week
Speaking during a White House press conference last week, Donald Trump argued that the campaign would help tackle the US’s opioid crisis.
“Every boat that we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives. So every time you see a boat, and you feel badly you say, ‘Wow, that’s rough’. It is rough, but if you lose three people and save 25,000 people,” he said.
On Thursday, appearing at a press conference with Mr Hegseth, Mr Trump said that it was necessary to kill the alleged smugglers, because if they were arrested they would only return to transport drugs “again and again and again”.
“They don’t fear that, they have no fear,” he told reporters.
The attacks at sea would soon be followed by operations on land against drug smuggling cartels, Mr Trump claimed.
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“We’re going to kill them,” he added. “They’re going to be, like, dead.”
Some Democratic politicians have expressed concerns that the strikes risk dragging the US into a war with Venezuela because of their proximity to the South American country’s coast.
Others have condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings that would not stand up in a court of law.
Jim Himes, a member of the House of Representatives, told CBS News earlier this month: “They are illegal killings because the notion that the United States – and this is what the administration says is their justification – is involved in an armed conflict with any drug dealers, any Venezuelan drug dealers, is ludicrous.”
He claimed that Congress had been told “nothing” about who was on the boats and how they were identified as a threat.
A convicted child killer executed in Tennessee showed signs of “sustained cardiac activity” two minutes after he was pronounced dead, his lawyer has claimed.
Byron Black, who shot dead his girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters, aged six and nine, in a jealous rage in 1988, was executed in August by a lethal injection.
Alleged issues about his case were raised on Friday as part of a lawsuit challenging the US state‘s lethal injection policies, amid claims they violate both federal and state constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment.
The latest proceedings in Nashville were held to consider whether attorneys representing death row inmates in the lawsuit will be allowed to depose key people involved in carrying out executions in Tennessee.
There were fears that the device would shock his heart when the lethal chemicals took effect.
The Death Penalty Information Center, which provides data on such matters, said it was unaware of any similar cases.
Seven media witnesses said Black appeared to be in discomfort during the execution. He looked around the room as the execution began, and could be heard sighing and breathing heavily, the AP news agency reported at the time.
An electrocardiogram monitoring his heart recorded cardiac activity after he was pronounced dead, his lawyer Kelley Henry told a judge on Friday.
Ms Henry, who is leading a group of federal public defenders representing death row inmates in the US state, said only the people who were there would be able to answer the question of what went wrong during Black’s execution.
“At one point, the blanket was pulled down to expose the IV,” she told the court.
“Why? Did the IV come out? Is that the reason that Mr Black exclaimed ‘it’s hurting so bad’? Is the EKG (electrocardiogram) correct?”
A full trial in the case is scheduled to be heard in April.
Donald Trump begins bulldozing much of the White House as his plans to build a mega ballroom begin – without planning permission, nor true clarity as to how it’s all being funded.
There are aesthetic questions, historical questions and ethical questions. We dig into what they are.
And – who is the young Democratic socialist about to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor? We tell you everything you need to know about Zohran Mamdani.
You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel – and watch David Blevins’ digital video on the White House ballroom here.
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