Outgoing US president Joe Biden has U-turned on a previous promise not to pardon his son Hunter from the federal charges he is facing.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June on three felonies related to buying a gun in 2018, with prosecutors arguing that he lied in his paperwork by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
He also issued a guilty plea over accusations that he had not paid at least $1.4 million (£1.1 million) in taxes, saying he'd decided to plead guilty to spare his family embarrassment, after the previous trial over the gun charges had revealed details about his addiction to crack cocaine.
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The gun conviction carried a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, while the tax charges could put someone behind bars for up to 17 years. However, sentencing guidelines would likely have called for much less time than that and it would even have been possible that Hunter Biden would not have gone to prison.
However, despite previously promising to the contrary, his father has now pardoned him.
Joe Biden will be leaving the White House next month after announcing he would not be seeking a second term as president, and since his party lost the election it will be Donald Trump and the Republicans returning for a second term to replace him there.
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Biden's administration had repeatedly denied that the president would pardon his son, including on 8 November after the election result made it clear that Trump would soon be occupying the White House once again.
On that day the White House press secretary said: "We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no."
Since then, the US president issued a statement declaring that he had now changed his mind and granted his son a 'full and unconditional' pardon, arguing that the prosecution had been a 'miscarriage of justice' and politically motivated.
He said: “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.
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"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."
"I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."
Hunter Biden said in a statement: "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."
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The U-turn is surprising in one aspect, considering the repeated denials that Biden would pardon his son, but very unsurprising in another regard considering the US judicial system is about to be handed over to a man who makes reference to the 'Biden Crime Family', and has alleged that they are running a 'criminal enterprise'.
Donald Trump released a statement following the announcement of the pardon, making reference to the people who were imprisoned during the attempted insurrection on 6 January, 2021 and claiming it was 'an abuse and miscarriage of justice'.
Trump said: "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!"
When Trump last exited the White House, he issued a significant number of pardons for those associated with him who had been connected to criminal investigations surrounding his administration.
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At the end of the day, the 82-year-old Biden is not going to be president again and while he still has the power to do so, he has removed the possibility of his son facing jail time, any political consequences of this will not be borne by Joe Biden.
Joe Harker