On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced that he had granted a pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, despite repeatedly stating he would never do so.

The pardon was issued ahead of Hunter Biden, 54, facing sentencing for gun and tax evasion charges expected later in December. He was at risk of receiving prison time, the Daily Wire reported.

“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,” President Biden said.

Statement from President Biden

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

Full statement: https://t.co/InKuzm3vMF pic.twitter.com/vhxIjr1xIe

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 2, 2024

For months, extending back to last year, President Biden and the White House consistently denied any intention to pardon his son. “We’ve been asked that question multiple times and our answer stands — which is no,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in early November.

In June, a Delaware jury convicted Hunter Biden on three felony charges: lying on paperwork to purchase a revolver and possessing the firearm while being a drug addict in 2018.

In September, just before a second trial was set to begin in Los Angeles, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to several federal charges related to tax crimes. These charges followed the breakdown of a controversial plea agreement, which critics had labeled a “sweetheart” deal, potentially sparing him from a prison sentence.

President Biden bemoaned how the plea agreement “unraveled” with “a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process.”

He also insisted, “Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases,” adding that “raw politics” tainted the process and led to “a miscarriage of justice.”

David Weiss, who initially led the investigation into Hunter Biden as a U.S. attorney, was later appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as special counsel in the case.

The investigation came under intense scrutiny after IRS agents acted as whistleblowers, alleging that the tax case was deliberately delayed, preventing more serious charges from being pursued.

POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney highlighted on X that President Biden’s pardon was “sweeping,” covering crimes Hunter “committed or may have committed” over an 11-year period starting in 2014. Several users on social media noted that the 2014 date lined up with increased U.S. involvement in Ukraine, when Joe Biden was vice president, and Hunter went to work for a Ukrainian energy firm that paid him millions.