Washington — President Biden announced late Sunday that he signed a pardon for his son Hunter Biden, in a major reversal in the final weeks of his presidency.
Mr. Biden repeatedly pledged not to pardon his son, who was convicted in June of three separate felony charges related to his purchase of a revolver in 2018 when he was battling an addiction to illegal drugs, which he lied about on paperwork to obtain the gun, and pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges in a separate case September.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. 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,” Mr. Biden said in a statement Sunday night.
The president argued that “Hunter was treated differently” than others under similar circumstances, claiming that the charges were brought after “several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.
“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,” Mr. Biden said.
The White House said as recently as last month that the president had no plans to pardon his son.
Biden was set to be sentenced for the gun convictions on Dec. 12.
Biden was indicted on three felony gun charges in September after a proposed plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have had him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a diversion program instead of pleading guilty to a felony gun possession count fell apart.
He was accused of lying on paperwork and illegally purchasing and possessing a gun while he was addicted to crack cocaine. Federal law prohibits users of illegal drugs from owning firearms.
Prosecutors said the president’s son lied about his drug use on a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form when he bought a revolver and several other items from a Wilmington, Delaware, gun store on Oct. 12, 2018.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
