Hunter Biden breaks silence on pardon from dad Joe: ‘I realize how privileged I am’
President Joe Biden talks with his son Hunter Biden upon arrival at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, on June 11, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden says his father only pardoned him after Donald Trump reclaimed the presidency in November 2024, suggesting that under “normal circumstances” during the appeals process, he would not have received clemency.
“Donald Trump went and changed everything,” Hunter said in a Monday interview on journalist Tommy Christopher’s Substack. “I don’t think I need to make much of an argument about why it changed everything.” The 55-year-old, who pleaded guilty last year to evading $1.4 million in back taxes and was convicted on felony gun charges, did not address reports that he had been present during clemency discussions in the final months of Joe Biden’s first term.
“I’ve said this before,” Hunter continued. “My dad would not have pardoned me if President Trump had not won, because in a normal appeals process I believed I would have won.” He described Trump as conducting a “revenge tour” against his father, making him “the easiest target to intimidate,” which also affected his family.
Hunter added, “I realize how privileged I am. I realize how lucky I am; I got something almost no one else would. I’m incredibly grateful for it, and I don’t think it requires a detailed argument for why it was the right thing to do, at least from my dad’s perspective.”
He also criticized Trump for commuting the sentence of former Congressman George Santos, who was serving a seven-year federal prison term for defrauding campaign donors. “Why did he do it? To show that he can do anything — anything he wants,” Hunter said.
Ex-White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients revealed last month that Hunter “was involved” in clemency talks and “attended a few meetings,” according to sources familiar with Zients’ testimony to the House Oversight Committee. Another source confirmed that President Biden valued input from various advisors but always made “the final decisions” himself.
On Dec. 1, 2024, President Biden pardoned Hunter for his tax and gun felonies and granted him immunity for potential crimes committed since Jan. 1, 2014. Other family members, including his brother James Biden, also received clemency amid federal investigations into their business dealings. Zients approved the last-minute clemencies on Jan. 19, 2025, the night before Biden left office; unlike Hunter’s hand-signed pardon, most of the president’s final acts were authorized via autopen.
“I will never take the clemency I have been given for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering,” Hunter said at the time.
Trump condemned the pardon as “an abuse and miscarriage of justice.” Biden had previously denied he would ever pardon Hunter during federal proceedings in Delaware and Los Angeles, but cited in the clemency order that his son had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” The pardon expunged nine tax counts and three felony gun charges days before Hunter’s scheduled sentencing.
Biden noted, “Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those late on taxes due to serious addictions, who repay with interest, typically get non-criminal resolutions. Hunter was treated differently.”
Similar cases, including ones involving celebrities, had led to convictions and prison time. Hunter also avoided potential charges for failing to register as a foreign agent while conducting business in Ukraine and China, though special counsel David Weiss considered pursuing them.
President Biden repeatedly said he “never” discussed business with Hunter or James and “did not” engage with their associates. Yet emails and witness statements collected by both Weiss and a congressional Republican investigation suggest otherwise.
Hunter served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings from 2014 to 2019, earning up to $1 million per year, while Vice President Joe Biden oversaw U.S. policy in Ukraine. Hunter also had dealings with a Chinese state-linked energy company in 2017; an email referenced a 10% stake for the “big guy,” which Hunter later confirmed referred to his father, though he told lawmakers that Joe Biden was not involved in the deal.
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