US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing him a possible prison sentence for gun and tax convictions and reversing past promises not to use the powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.
"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," the president said in a statement released by the White House.
"I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."Â
The president and son Hunter spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts. (AP PHOTO)
The White House had said repeatedly that Biden would not pardon or commute the sentences of his son, a recovering drug addict who became a target of Republicans, including US President-elect Donald Trump.
Biden said he had made the decision over the weekend. The president, his wife, Jill Biden, and their family including Hunter, spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts and returned to Washington on Saturday night.
"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.
Hunter Biden faced sentencing for the false statements and gun convictions on Wednesday. In September he pled guilty to federal charges of failing to pay $US1.4 million in taxes while spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers and luxury items. He faced sentencing in that case on December 16.
"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," Hunter Biden said in a statement.
"In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages ... 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."
Hunter Biden will be sentenced for gun convictions on Wednesday. (AP PHOTO)
He added that he had remained sober for more than five years.
The president, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, said his opponents had sought to break Hunter with selective prosecution.
Biden said people were almost never brought to trial for felony charges over how they filled out a gun form, and said others who were late in paying taxes because of addiction but paid them back with interest and penalties as his son had typically received "non-criminal resolutions" to their cases.
"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," 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 official pardon caps a long-running legal saga for Hunter Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 - a month after Joe Biden's 2020 US election victory.
In June, as Hunter was facing trial in the gun case in Delaware, Biden ruled out a pardon or clemency in an interview with ABC News.
As recently as November 8, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed a pardon, saying: "We've been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no."
with Reuters