Why Biden pardoned Hunter: Guilty feelings, family solidarity
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
President Biden and his son Hunter Biden step out of a bookstore while shopping in Nantucket, Mass., on Friday. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden has privately expressed guilt for years about the investigations and convictions of his son Hunter. Late Sunday night, he tried to lighten that guilt by giving him a broad pardon.
Why it matters: Biden's pardon marks the end of a central drama of his presidency that has both weighed him down and propelled him forward.
- Biden knew that being president brought further scrutiny on his son. But Hunter also found purpose and sobriety in his dad's political mission.
Driving the news: Biden signed a pardon Sunday after spending the weekend with his family, including Hunter, in Nantucket — an annual family retreat.
- Biden gave broad protection to his son for crimes "he has committed or may have committed or taken part in" since Jan. 1, 2014.
- Biden explained in a statement: "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."
- Hunter was set to face sentencing for separate gun and tax crimes in December. He faced over 20 years in prison but would've likely received a lighter sentence.
Zoom in: Biden and his spokespeople repeatedly said for a year that the president would not pardon his son.
- Some close to Biden always believed that his own feelings of guilt and internal family lobbying would change his mind in the end.
- "Once it became clear that the Justice Department was dead set on jail time, this was always how it was ending," said one person in the Biden orbit.
When Biden launched his campaign for president in 2019, his family was in crisis with both of his adult children struggling with addiction to drugs.
- Hunter and Biden's daughter Ashley supported his run. But both paid a significant price. Hunter's laptop hard drive emerged, and Ashley's diary became public.
One of Biden's close friends told Bob Woodward in his book "War," out in October, that the Biden family battles were "the real war" for him — more than Israel or Ukraine.
- The friend told Woodward that Hunter's problems had taken Biden off "an even keel, preoccupied him and taken a lot out of him."
Between the lines: Biden is trying to protect Hunter from his current convictions and any potential future investigations from a Trump Justice Department.
- Biden and his family believe the attacks on Hunter were meant to push him into relapse, then imperil his presidency.
In his statement announcing the pardon, Biden said: "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 a nod to potential future actions by Trump, Biden added: "In trying to break Hunter, they've tried to break me — and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."
Go deeper: Read Biden's statement.
