The White House is not ruling out the possibility of President Joe Biden considering commuting his son’s federal gun conviction.
“I haven’t spoken to the president about this since the verdict came out and as we all know, the sentencing hasn’t even been scheduled yet,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday en route with Biden to the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
“He was asked about a pardon, he was asked about the trial specifically and he answered it very clearly, very forthright. As we know, the sentencing hasn’t even been scheduled yet. I don’t have anything beyond what the president said,” she added.
Hunter Biden, 54, was found guilty of three federal charges after lying on a October 2018 federal firearms application about using drugs.
While the president told ABC last week that he will not grant his son a pardon—which would exonerate him of all guilt of a crime—he has not spoken publicly about the possibility of commuting Hunter Biden’s sentence, which would keep the conviction but reduce the sentence.
Jean-Pierre on Wednesday stressed to reporters that though the president was “very clear” on his stance on the presidential pardon, she does not have “anything beyond that” on the commutation question.
“Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today,” Biden wrote in a Tuesday statement after the verdict. “So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.”
Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 for the three convicted charges. Legal experts, however, told The Daily Beast he will likely receive a shorter sentence given he is a nonviolent, first-time offender.
“If the special prosecutor asks for jail, his politics is showing,” Duncan Levin, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “This case does not merit any jail time.”
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