“As I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” the U.S. president said.
JNS Staff
(JNS)
U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Sunday night that he hopes Americans will understand why he, as “a father and a president,” decided to pardon his son Hunter Biden.
“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,” Biden stated.
“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,” the president said. “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.”
Biden and his administration have previously issued very strong statements about gun control and the important of holding offenders accountable for gun crimes.
Less than a month ago, a reporter asked Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, during a Nov. 8 press briefing about a potential pardon. “His son, Hunter, is also up for being sentenced next month,” the reporter said. “Does the president have any intention of pardoning him?”
“We’ve been asked that
Biden stated on Sunday that the charges against Hunter Biden “came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.”
“Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the courtroom—with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process,” he said. “Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”
“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,” Biden said. “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.”
The president said that he has followed “a simple principle” for his entire career, which is to “just tell the American people the truth.”
“They’ll be fair-minded. 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,” he said. “I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
Over the weekend, Biden was also photographed carrying an anti-Israel book as he exited a Nantucket, Mass., book store.
