The lawyer for Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, has filed to have the indictments against him dismissed, following a pardon issued by his father earlier in the day.
In legal documents submitted late on Sunday concerning criminal tax and firearm charges, his lawyer argued that the president’s full and unconditional pardon “necessitates the dismissal of the indictment” against Hunter Biden.
Father (US President) Pardons Son
In a statement, Bident said, “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.”
Hunter Biden was found guilty of federal gun charges and was set to be sentenced on December 12. In a different criminal matter, he entered a guilty plea to federal tax evasion charges in September and was scheduled to be sentenced on December 16.
According to a White House statement, the president granted Hunter Biden a “full and unconditional pardon” for any offences he “committed or may have committed or participated in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
The president decided to pardon his son over the weekend and started telling his closest advisers on Sunday.
U-turn?
Biden, 82, is using his pardon authority to make sure Hunter Biden does not go to jail as his tenure in the White House draws to a close and he has no more elections to contend with. He has stated in recent months that he would neither reduce his son’s sentence or grant him a pardon.
In June, following a jury’s conviction of Hunter Biden on three federal gun counts, he said, “I will not pardon him.”
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