WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has decided to issue a pardon for his son Hunter and is expected to announce it Sunday night, according to a senior White House official with direct knowledge of the decision.
The decision marks a reversal for the president, who has repeatedly said he would not use his executive authority to pardon his son or commute his sentence. The pardon comes ahead of Hunter Biden’s Dec. 12 sentencing for his conviction on federal gun charges. Hunter Biden also is set to be sentenced in a separate criminal case on Dec. 16, after pleading guilty in September on federal tax evasion charges.
The pardon is expected to cover both Hunter Biden’s gun charges conviction and guilty plea.
The senior White House official said Biden decided over this weekend to grant his son a pardon and began to inform his senior aides on Sunday.
Using his pardon power to assure Hunter Biden does not spend time in jail comes as the 82-year-old president is near the end of his term in the White House and has no future election to face. In recent months Biden has said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence.
“I will not pardon him,” the president said of his son in June after a jury found him guilty on three federal gun charges.
President Biden has discussed issuing a pardon for his son with some of his closest aides since at least Hunter Biden’s conviction in June, two people with direct knowledge of the discussions about the matter said. They said a decision was made at the time for the president to publicly say he would not pardon his son even though doing so remained on the table.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this month that the president’s position has not changed.
“We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands which is ‘no,’” she said.
Asked Monday if the president is still committed to not issuing clemency for his son, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said: “The president has spoken to this.” When pressed on whether Biden’s position has changed, Bates replied, “I don’t have anything to add what he said already.”
First lady Jill Biden has also said her husband would not pardon their son.
“Joe and I both respect the judicial system, and that’s the bottom line,” Jill Biden said in an interview with NBC News in June.
Hunter Biden’s criminal trial in June was the first involving the child of a sitting president.
If Hunter Biden had been pardoned after the conclusion of that trial, the move would have ignited a political firestorm for his father, who was campaigning for re-election. Republicans have for years attacked Hunter Biden over his foreign business dealings and accused him and the president of corruption. They’ve also argued that Hunter Biden was receiving special treatment by the Justice Department because of his father’s political power.
GOP criticism reached a crescendo in July 2023 when Hunter Biden entered a plea deal with federal prosecutors on the tax and gun charges, which collapsed after a judge raised questions about it. That development led to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment a couple weeks later of the U.S. attorney investigating Hunter Biden, David Weiss, as a special counsel.
President Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July, but a pardon before Tuesday’s election also could have generated political blowback on the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris after she took his place on the Democratic ticket.
Together, the 12 counts Hunter Biden is convicted of or pled guilty to carry a maximum prison sentence of 42 years. But the maximum sentences typically aren’t given out for convictions of these crimes. The Justice Department has said, for instance, that while the tax charges carry a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison, sentences are typically less than that.
Biden was asked during an interview in June if he would rule out a pardon for his son, and answered, “Yes.”
Days later after Hunter Biden was convicted on federal gun charges by a jury in his hometown of Wilmington, DE, President Biden issued a statement saying he would respect the outcome. He then told reporters he would abide by the jury’s decision.
“I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter,” Biden said. “He has overcome an addiction. He’s one of the brightest, most decent men I know, and I am satisfied that I’m not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision. I will do that, and I will not pardon him.”
Neil Eggleston, who served as White House Counsel to President Obama, told NBC News he would advise Biden to pardon his son, though he has not been contacted or consulted by the current White House regarding any pardon preparations.
“If I were his White House counsel, I would encourage him to pardon his son, Hunter,” Eggleston said. “The clemency power has few limitations and certainly would extend to a Hunter Biden pardon.”
Eggleston’s opinion that the president should pardon his son echoes other former Justice Department and White House officials previously involved in presidential pardons who told NBC News that they thought Biden should exercise this power in advance of the incoming Trump administration.
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