US President Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he had pardoned his son Hunter, who was awaiting sentencing in cases of illegal possession of a firearm and tax evasion.
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“ No reasonable person looking at the facts in the Hunter cases can come to any other conclusion than this : Hunter was only singled out because he’s my son – and that’s wrong “, affirmed the Democrat in a press release, referring to “ a judicial error “. The American leader had however assured several times that he would not grant a presidential pardon to his son. As recently as September, the White House reaffirmed this.
Hunter Biden, 54, pleaded guilty in September to tax fraud in a Los Angeles, California, court, avoiding a trial. This former lawyer and businessman, now converted to painting, was notably faced with one count of tax evasion and two counts of false declarations for not having paid 1.4 million dollars in taxes over the last decade. Joe Biden’s youngest son has already been convicted this year of lying about his drug addiction when purchasing a weapon – a misdemeanor in the state of Delaware, Biden’s stronghold. Hunter Biden was still waiting to know what sentence he would receive in each of these cases.
“ I said I would not interfere with the decision-making of the Department of Justice and I kept my word even when I saw my son being selectively and unfairly prosecuted “, Joe Biden said in his press release. “ The accusations in his cases emerged only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election “, he added. “ I believe in the justice system, but […] I also believe [qu’une forme] crude politics has infected this process and [que] this led to a miscarriage of justice. »