Hunter Biden: President Joe Biden pardons son after ‘miscarriage of justice’

President Joe Biden has issued a presidential pardon to his son Hunter Biden due to a “miscarriage of justice”.

The democratic leader, who will end his presidency when Donald Trump assumes power in January, has previously maintained that he would not issue a pardon to his son over gun and tax evasion charges.

On Monday, Mr Biden issued a statement to the White House website confirming the pardon had been signed.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” he 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.”

Mr Biden went on to allege that Hunter’s treatment was politically motivated by his opponents.

“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, unravelled in the courtroom – 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.”

Mr Biden said: “Enough is enough.”

The president claimed for for his entire career he has followed a simple principle: “Just tell the American people the truth.”

Mr Biden said he had made the decision over the weekend. The president, his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, and their family including Hunter, spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts and returned to Washington on Saturday night.

“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 timing of Mr Biden’s apparent presidential pardon flip comes days before his son Hunter is set to be sentenced.

Sentencing for his conviction on federal gun charges was set for December 12 and his tax evasion on December 16.

More to come...