Despite repeated denials from both President Joe Biden and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, we all knew the day would come when Biden would pardon his son, Hunter. Of course, he had to wait until the election was over. He also wanted to act before the sentencing dates for Hunter’s federal gun charges on Dec. 12 and his tax evasion case on Dec. 16.
According to the White House statement, the president granted 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.” And that was the end of that.
Biden’s presidency is already viewed by many as a failure. Pardoning his son at this point will likely have little additional impact on his “legacy.” Within a few days, the media uproar will likely fade.
We really can’t be too hard on the old man. Whatever his other motives, he’s an aging father who wants his son nearby in his final years. Many parents in his position might have done the same.
However, I do find fault with Biden’s pardon statement. Instead of acknowledging any wrongdoing on Hunter’s part, he portrayed him as a victim of “selective and unfair prosecution.” Biden claimed, “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.”
This framing minimizes the seriousness of Hunter’s offenses. In reality, the charges brought against him were relatively minor compared to the breadth of his alleged misconduct. Yet, many individuals have served prison sentences for similar charges.
Biden’s attempt to recast his son as a martyr rather than addressing the facts of the case undermines the integrity of his argument and the public’s trust.
In 2018, U.S. Attorney David Weiss of the Delaware District Court launched an investigation into Hunter Biden. The probe dragged on for five years, during which time the statute of limitations conveniently expired on some of Hunter’s most serious alleged offenses—such as tax evasion in 2014 and 2015, years when he earned millions from foreign entities. Ultimately, Department of Justice officials charged him with relatively minor crimes, creating the appearance of accountability while shielding him from harsher consequences.
One of the most egregious claims in President Biden’s pardon statement centers on Hunter’s “carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice,” which he blames for unraveling in court due to interference from “political opponents in Congress.” Biden contends, “Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.”
This “carefully negotiated” agreement, however, was widely criticized as a sweetheart deal. It required Hunter to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges and enter a pretrial diversion program for a felony charge of possessing a firearm as a drug user or addict. If Hunter complied with the diversion program for two years, the felony charge would be dropped entirely. In essence, the agreement was an extraordinarily lenient slap on the wrist.
On July 25, 2023, Hunter arrived in court expecting to sign the deal and leave within half an hour. However, Judge Maryellen Noreika had other plans. Upon reviewing the agreement, she rejected it, raising serious concerns about its constitutionality, particularly the diversion clause and the sweeping immunity Hunter would receive. Fox News reported that the judge found these elements deeply problematic.
Following the judge’s decision, Hunter pleaded not guilty to all charges and left the courtroom empty-handed. For the Biden family, the collapse of the deal was a disastrous turn of events. For the rule of law in America, however, it was a significant and welcome victory.
President Biden claims that his political opponents are targeting Hunter as a means of attacking him, and there is some validity to this allegation given the Biden family’s history of influence peddling. Investigations launched by House Republicans in January 2023 uncovered substantial evidence suggesting that the Biden family profited by leveraging Joe Biden’s political position to influence U.S. policy decisions in exchange for financial gain. This evidence includes bank records, data from Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, and sworn testimony from IRS and FBI whistleblowers who were directly involved in investigating Hunter.
The evidence reveals that Hunter Biden and his associates created a network of shell companies specifically designed to launder money through a complex web of accounts, making it difficult to trace the flow of funds.
According to testimony from IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler before the House Oversight Committee in July 2023, documents show that the Biden family received at least $17 million from foreign entities between 2014 and 2019. Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) later said on Fox News that the total amount could be as high as $25-30 million, adding, “All roads lead to Joe Biden.”
While the revelations from 2023 may have faded from the forefront of public consciousness amid a fast-moving news cycle, they remain unresolved. The lack of an impeachment effort against Biden doesn’t negate the gravity of the findings.
By issuing a full and comprehensive pardon to Hunter for 2014-2024, Biden has limited the risk of “future prosecutions or the potential of what the incoming Trump Justice Department could do,” as Jeff Zeleny, CNN’s chief national affairs correspondent, suggests in the clip below.
Finally, President Biden highlights Hunter’s five and a half years of sobriety, seemingly suggesting that his past drug addiction mitigates his criminal behavior. However, IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler reminds us of a critical detail. Speaking with investigative reporter Catherine Herridge (as shown in the clip below), Ziegler notes that in his own memoir, Hunter admitted to filing “false tax returns” even after achieving sobriety.
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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