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After many denials he would do so, Joe Biden granted his son Hunter Biden a pardon in the federal gun and tax cases against him Sunday night. The pardon ends a case that was blown open by IRS whistleblowers who spoke out after the Biden Justice Department slow-walked an investigation into Hunter, allowing the statute of limitations to pass on some charges and offering Hunter a sweetheart plea deal that was ultimately rejected by an incredulous federal judge in Delaware resulting in the appointment of a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in the cases. Incredibly, Garland appointed the same federal prosecutor who sabotaged the Hunter case, Robert Weiss, to be special counsel.

Hunter was later convicted on three felony charges related to the purchase of a gun in June of 2024 (AP excerpt):

Hunter Biden was convicted Tuesday of all three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018 when, prosecutors argued, the president’s son lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

…Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.

Link to Special Counsel Weiss’ statement on the gun case conviction.

In September, Hunter pled guilty to tax charges (NPR excerpt):

President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, pleaded guilty Thursday to tax charges in a surprise move just before jury selection was set to start in his federal criminal trial in Los Angeles.

The last-minute change of plea headed off what would likely have been a painful legal and personal ordeal filled with sordid details of the younger Biden’s life when he was addicted to crack cocaine.

The case centered on Biden’s failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019, even as he spent millions of dollars on what prosecutors described as an “extravagant lifestyle” replete with escorts, luxury hotels and a sex club membership.

…Hunter Biden was facing nine counts in the Los Angeles case: three felony counts for tax evasion and filing false returns, plus six misdemeanor counts.

Link to Special Counsel Weiss’ statement on the tax case guilty plea.

Attorney Mike Davis noted a few days ago that once pardoned, Hunter could no longer invoke his 5th Amendment rights if called to testify in matters related to Biden family corruption, “If Biden pardons someone–like, say, Hunter or Jack Smith–they can no longer invoke the Fifth Amendment’s right against self-incrimination to avoid testifying before Congress or grand juries. If those pardoned refuse to testify, they can face new charges for criminal contempt.”

Hunter spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Joe and family in Nantucket.

Text of the pardon.

Statement from President Joe 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. 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.

The charges in his cases 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 court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. 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. 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.

For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: 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. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.

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Executive Grant of Clemency
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
President of the United States of America

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto

ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN

A Full and Unconditional Pardon

For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.

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A sample of pardon denials: