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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter over the latter's guilty plea to tax evasion and an earlier conviction for illegally buying a gun, despite previously vowing he would not do so -- a move that comes weeks before the younger Biden was due to be sentenced in Los Angeles federal court in the tax case.
Hunter Biden, a 54-year-old Malibu resident, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court in September to federal tax-evasion charges just as jury selection was set to begin in the trial. He was due to be sentenced Dec. 16.
The guilty plea followed a June conviction on three felony charges in a separate gun case brought in Delaware. In that case, Hunter Biden was found guilty of lying on a mandatory gun-purchase form in 2018 by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs -- when, in fact, he later admitted to having been addicted to illegal narcotics at the time.
Sunday, the White House issued a statement explaining the president's decision to issue a full and unconditional pardon, just weeks before Biden leaves office.
"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter," the president's statement said. "From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently."
The statement went on to say, "The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room -- with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter's cases.
"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.
"For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They'll be fair-minded. Here's the truth: 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 -- and 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 statement concluded.
The Republican Party of Los Angeles County responded to the pardon on social media, saying "Democrat lies, one of California's largest exports."
The post included a clip of White House Press Secretary Karine Jean- Pierre, along with the words, "No. It's a no. It will always be a no. Biden will not pardon his son Hunter," followed by, "Guess what? THEY LIED."
President-elect Donald Trump, on his social media site Truth Social, called the pardon "Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!" He also said "Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?" -- a reference to people serving time for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021 capitol riots, some of whom Trump has suggested he could pardon when he retakes office .
On Sept. 5, Biden pleaded guilty to federal tax-evasion charges after a volley of legal arguments and objections from prosecutors, just as jury selection was set to begin. Some 100 prospective panelists had been summoned to the downtown L.A. courthouse.
His trial was expected to last two weeks in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, an appointee of then-President Trump. Scarsi previously rejected a bid to toss the case after the defendant sought to argue that David Weiss, the special counsel overseeing the prosecution, was improperly appointed. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Biden's request to revive the bid to have the charges against him dismissed.
In his Sept. 5 court appearance, Biden made an open plea to the court, meaning there were no guarantees about the type of sentence he could receive. He admitted all nine charges he was facing -- three felonies and six misdemeanors -- charges that carried a potential sentence of up to 17 years in prison and fines topping $1 million.
Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said his client wanted to enter what is known as an "Alford plea," under which he pleads guilty but continues to maintain his innocence. Lowell said Biden recognized that prosecutors' evidence was "overwhelming" and would likely lead to his conviction in a trial.
Prosecutor Leo Wise strongly objected to the idea of an Alford plea, insisting that Biden was demonstrably guilty, and it would be an injustice to allow him to maintain his innocence.
After multiple court recesses and legal discussions, Biden was ultimately sworn in to enter his open plea to the court, with his attorney saying Biden wanted to resolve the case -- which dated back to a time when he was addicted to drugs.
Following the proceeding, Biden issued a statement saying he opted to enter the guilty plea to spare his family the grief of a trial.
"I went to trial in Delaware not realizing the anguish it would cause my family, and I will not put them through it again," he said.
"When it became clear to me that the same prosecutors were focused not on justice but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction, there was only one path left for me. I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment. For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty."
Before the plea was officially entered, however, Wise insisted on reading the entire 56-page indictment against Biden into the record, accusing Biden of failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes. Prosecutors contended that Biden "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills."
The indictment alleged that between 2016 and Oct. 15, 2020, "the defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes."
Described in the indictment as a Georgetown- and Yale-educated lawyer in a multinational law firm, lobbyist, consultant and businessperson, Hunter Biden also served on the board of a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate and a Chinese private equity fund during the time of the tax allegations.
"He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements for business and legal services that paid millions of dollars of compensation to him and/or his domestic corporations, Owasco PC and Owasco LLC," according to the indictment.
Hunter Biden's attorneys said the defendant had repaid the government $2 million in back taxes and penalties. They said they believed the case was brought "in direct response to political pressure," according to court filings.
One of Hunter Biden's attorneys, veteran Los Angeles criminal lawyer Mark Geragos, unsuccessfully petitioned the court to allow testimony that the death of the defendant's mother and sister in a 1972 car crash and the death of his brother from cancer in 2015 caused him to ignore his tax obligations.
Hunter Biden has said he had forgotten to pay his taxes during a period in which he was in the grip of drug addiction.