.jpg){kind=link}
President Biden signed a pardon for his son Hunter Sunday after the younger Biden was convicted of federal gun charges and federal tax evasion charges earlier this year, the outgoing Democrat announced.
Biden, 82, claimed he was taking the controversial action after he watched his son being “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
The about-face comes after the president, who played a recurring role in the Chinese and Ukrainian business relationships involved in the tax case, previously claimed he would not pardon Hunter, 54.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty in September to nine counts tied to bilking Americans of $1.4 million in taxes and was found guilty of three federal gun charges in June after he was charged with possession of a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs.
Hunter was never charged with FARA violations — despite charges announced last year against a businessman who worked with one of the same Chinese firms. The pardon prevents Hunter from facing those foreign-lobbying charges, which have five-year statutes of limitation.
Delaware US Attorney David Weiss was elevated to the rank of special counsel to refile charges after the plea deal collapsed, which he did in Delaware and Los Angeles. The first son was awaiting sentencing in both cases.
Hunter Biden was scheduled to be sentenced for the gun case on Dec. 12 and for the tax case on Dec. 16. He accepted the pardon in both cases, according to court filings late Sunday.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), who helped lead the impeachment inquiry, said: “Joe Biden has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities. Not only has he falsely claimed that he never met with his son’s foreign business associates and that his son did nothing wrong, but he also lied when he said he would not pardon Hunter Biden.”
“The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied about to the American people,” Comer added. “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”
Hunter financed his legal defense through loans from wealthy Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who provided the first son with roughly $6.5 million to pay off back taxes, finance his lifestyle and retain legal counsel — beginning shortly after Hunter Biden and Morris met for the first time in late 2015 at a political fundraiser for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
The president’s offspring was set to receive immunity protection under the terms of a plea deal worked out with federal prosecutors earlier this year before the agreement was scuttled, Biden noted in his statement Sunday.