President Joe Biden’s complete statement on why he chose to pardon his son, Hunter

Full written statement from President Joe Biden on his decision to pardon his son:

Recently, I granted a pardon for my son, Hunter. Since the start of my term, I made it clear that I would not intervene in the Justice Department’s decision-making process, and I stuck to that promise. I have observed my son being unfairly targeted and prosecuted. It is uncommon for individuals to face felony charges solely for incorrectly completing a gun form without additional aggravating factors such as using the firearm in a crime, making multiple purchases, or acting as a straw purchaser. Taxpayers who were late in paying their taxes due to serious addictions but eventually settled their dues with interest and penalties typically do not face criminal charges. The differential treatment of Hunter is evident.

Hunter’s legal issues arose after some of my political adversaries in Congress goaded the authorities to go after him in an attempt to undermine me and hinder my election campaign. A plea agreement that had been meticulously negotiated and approved by the Department of Justice fell apart during the court proceedings. It was revealed that several of my political rivals in Congress claimed credit for influencing the legal process through political pressure. If the plea deal had held, it would have provided a fair and sensible closure to Hunter’s cases.

Objective scrutiny of the facts surrounding Hunter’s cases leads to the unavoidable conclusion that he was targeted solely because he is my son, which is unjust. Despite being clean for over five years and enduring relentless attacks and biased prosecution, Hunter has shown tremendous resilience. The relentless pursuit to break Hunter has been an attempt to undermine me, and there are concerns that the attacks will not cease. It is time to put an end to this ongoing ordeal.

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.