Washington: US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he had pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who had pled guilty to federal tax charges after being found guilty of making false statements on a background check for guns and illegally possessing a handgun.
“I signed my son Hunter’s pardon today. “Even though I have witnessed my son being unfairly and selectively prosecuted, I have remained true to my promise to not meddle in the Justice Department’s decision-making since the day I took office,” he said in a White House statement.
His son was a recovering drug addict who became a target for Republicans, especially President-elect Donald Trump, when the White House repeatedly stated that Biden would not pardon or reduce his convictions.
“No reasonable person who stares at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son,” Biden declared.
On Wednesday, Hunter Biden was sentenced for the firearms offenses and false statements. He admitted to federal accusations in September of not paying $1.4 million in taxes while lavishly purchasing luxury goods, sex workers, and narcotics. On December 16, he was sentenced in that case.
Hunter Biden, who has been sober for more than five years, said in a statement on Sunday, “I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport.”
“I wasted a lot of chances and benefits when I was struggling with addiction… I will dedicate the life I have rebuilt to helping others who are still ill and in pain, and I will never take the clemency granted to me today for granted.”
The president, whose son Beau passed away from brain disease in 2015, claimed that his opponents had used selective prosecution to try to discredit Hunter.
He claimed that people were rarely tried for felonies related to how they filled out a firearms form, and that those who paid taxes late due to addiction but did so with interest and penalties, like his son, had generally been given “non-criminal resolutions” to their cases.
“Hunter was obviously given distinct treatment. Only when a few of my congressional rivals encouraged them to disparage me and prevent my election did the charges in his cases become a reality,” Biden stated. “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 claimed to have decided over the weekend. After spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts, with his wife, Jill Biden, and their family, which included Hunter, the president arrived back in Washington on Saturday evening.
One supporter yelled at the president to pardon his kid from across the street on Friday afternoon while strolling around Nantucket businesses.
“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 stated.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
Aaj Kal Ki News 