Gerrard Kaonga
Joe Biden has caused a stir after announcing he would be pardoning his son for crimes despite previous promises that he wouldn’t.
On Sunday night (Dec 1), President Joe Biden revealed that he would be using his executive authority to pardon his son.
In a statement, Biden explained his decision and insisted that he had a difficult time coming to this conclusion.
However, he did say that his political adversaries had used his son’s crimes as a way to attack him.
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Hunter Biden faced two felony gun charges, over allegedly lying about his addiction when he filled out a government screening document for a revolver in October 2018, and one charge for illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days.
He also faced three charges of felony tax offences for tax evasion and filing false returns, plus six misdemeanor counts.
Joe Biden said: "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.
“Once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further.
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
The outgoing president also said that his political opponents were aiming to go after his son as a way to ‘break’ him. He also highlighted his sons struggles with drug addiction.
Biden added: "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.
“There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.
“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."
In a separate statement, Hunter Biden echoed his father’s sentiments, taking issue with his father’s political opponents attempting to get to his father through him.
He said: “[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.
“Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends.
"In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages. In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded.
“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."
Donald Trump took to Truth Social to comment on this move and was quick to bring up the topic of pardoning those for their role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
He wrote: "Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice."