US: Biden pardons son on arm and tax evasion charges

Backtracking on his own words, US President Joseph Biden Sunday announced he had pardoned his son Hunter on two criminal charges, claiming they were politically motivated.

“No reasonable person looking at the facts of Hunter’s cases can come to any other conclusion than that Hunter was singled out just because he is my son, and that is wrong,” Biden argued. “By trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me, and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” he insisted while issuing the measure benefitting his son who had been convicted for the possession of weapons and tax evasion. President Biden had pledged not to interfere with the duties of the US Justice Department.

“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 reckoned earlier.

“Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence-peddling activities,” said Congressman James Comer, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. “Not only has he falsely claimed that he never met with his son’s foreign business associates and that his son did nothing wrong, but he also lied when he said he would not pardon Hunter Biden,” added the Republican lawmaker from Kentucky. “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.”

Hunter Biden said in a statement that he has taken accountability and responsibility for his mistakes “during the darkest days of my addiction.”

“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,” he added.

He had pleaded guilty to three separate felony charges in connection with his purchase of a revolver in 2018 when he was battling addiction and substance abuse issues, and to nine tax evasion charges in September. He was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 12 on the gun convictions and on Dec. 16 in the tax evasion cases. Federal law prohibits people addicted to drugs from owning weapons. Hunter Biden faced up to 17 years in federal prison on gun and tax evasion convictions.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump wondered if Biden’s pardon included those arrested for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riots. “Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”