United States President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden of gun and tax-related charges.
Biden said although he had vowed not to interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, he believed “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice”.
“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,” Biden said in a statement.
“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 court room – 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.”
Hunter Biden, 54, was facing charges over failure to pay taxes on income from his business dealings and possession of a firearm while being prohibited due to his history of abuse of drugs and alcohol.
Under the U.S. Constitution the President has the power to grant pardons for federal offences like those Hunter Biden was facing.
Presidents dating back to George Washington in 1795 have exercised this authority, often in controversial circumstances, such as in 1974 when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, who had resigned before he could be impeached over the Watergate scandal.
Democrat Joe Biden’s four year term ends on 20 January with the return of Republic Donald Trump, who pardoned former advisers and political allies before his last term ended.