After months of saying he would not, this week Joe Biden this week issued “a full and unconditional pardon” of his son, Hunter. The fairly sweeping pardon applies to all offences Hunter “has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024”.
Critically, decade that stretches back to Biden’s final years as vice-president, covers federal firearm and tax evasion charges to which Hunter recently pleaded guilty. But it also takes in the years in which a range of allegations were previously made that he gained improper financial and business benefits from his father’s position in the administration.
Last year, a House oversight committee report reluctantly cleared both Biden and his son of any illegal activity. But it also revealed some distinctly unflattering aspects of Hunter Biden’s life which have long been used by Republicans to try to tarnish his father’s reputation.
