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President Biden on Sunday pardoned his son Hunter, who was convicted of illegally purchasing a handgun in Delaware and pleaded guilty to tax charges in Los Angeles.
In explaining the controversial actions taken weeks before the president’s son was sentenced by federal judges on both coasts, Biden claimed his son was the victim of an unfair political attack. Biden has said in the past that he would not pardon Hunter.
“The charges in his case only arose after several of my political opponents in Congress attacked me and incited me to contest my election,” Biden said in a statement Sunday. “No reasonable person considering the facts of Hunter’s case could come to any other conclusion than that Hunter was chosen solely because he is my son, and that is wrong.
“Efforts have been made to break Hunter, who has been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me too—and There is no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough,” he said.
In June, Hunter Biden was convicted of federal gun crimes, including lying about not using drugs when he bought and briefly owned a gun while addicted to crack cocaine.
The guilty verdict ended a weeklong trial in which prosecutors drew testimony from Biden’s ex-wife, ex-girlfriend and sister-in-law. All spoke in graphic detail about their addictions to drugs and alcohol, with First Lady Jill Biden often sitting in the front row.
Mr. Biden is on trial for three felonies, and a jury has convicted him on all three counts. In addition to lying on a federal background check and making false statements to a federal firearms dealer, he was also convicted of possessing a firearm while an illegal drug user.
At the time, President Biden said he would “accept the outcome of the case” and continue to “respect the judicial process” as his son considers appealing the ruling.
In September, as jury selection was about to begin in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to all nine federal tax charges he faced.
The indictment includes risqué details about Biden’s life from 2016 to 2019, a period during which he has now admitted to failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. That includes hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on escorts, porn websites, hotels and hotels. Luxury rental cars and other extravagant personal expenses.
Prosecutors argued that Biden improperly classified personal expenses as business expenses and paid federal income taxes late.
Hunter Biden has long been a favorite target of conservatives, right-wing media and his father’s political opponents.
The younger Biden faced questions about his foreign dealings, particularly his seat on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, which he joined in 2014 when his father was vice president. Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from the company. He denies any wrongdoing.
Hunter Biden now lives in Malibu, where he has a daily painting ritual.
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