- President Biden has remained firm on not pardoning his son, reaffirming this stance post Election Day.
- Hunter Biden will face sentencing on Dec. 12 and 16 in two different criminal cases.
- His criminal charges include obtaining a gun while drug-addicted and substantive tax fraud amounting to $1.4 million.
While outgoing President Joe Biden pardoned two turkeys — Peach and Blossom — on Monday, a larger question loomed: Will Biden pardon his son in the final days of his presidency or will he keep his word and watch his son Hunter Biden face prison time?
Peach is a 41-pound white American turkey who “loves to eat hot dish, tater tots, and cross-country skis,” and hopes to witness the northern lights one day, Biden said. And Blossom “weighs 40 pounds, loves to eat cheese curds and watch boxing; (and) dreams to visit each one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes,” the president continued.
“Based on your temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby pardon Peach and Blossom,” he said.
Fox News’ Jesse Watters on his prime time show said that the two birds are headed to “a farm in Minnesota where they’ll see some greener pastures,” before noting “There’s a Biden who needs a pardon. Hunter,” referring to the president’s son.
“It was just two Thanksgivings ago that Hunter Biden, during the family’s annual Nantucket family feast, convinced his father to run for reelection,” the Fox News host noted.
Hunter Biden will soon appear for sentencing in two different courts. He will be sentenced in federal court in Delaware on Dec. 12 after he was convicted of buying a gun while lying about using drugs. On Dec. 16, he will appear before a federal court in California, for his sentencing over tax fraud charges that he pled guilty to. He evaded taxes, failed to pay them, and filed a false tax return. Biden owed $1.4 million in federal taxes.
The charges were brought by Department of Justice special counsel David Weiss, who earlier had struck a deal with Biden’s attorneys, but that fell apart when a federal judge noted the investigation into Biden was still open, as the Deseret News previously reported. Republicans had criticized the deal for being too lenient.
Throughout his son’s struggles with addiction, President Biden has consistently stood by him, offering unconditional support and reportedly staying in daily contact, according to The Washington Post.
In light of the heartbreaks the Biden family has endured, including the tragic deaths of his daughter Naomi and first wife Neilia in a 1972 car accident and the death of his first son Beau from brain cancer in 2015, Hunter holds a special place in his father’s heart.
Following Election Day, and after President-elect Donald Trump cemented his return to Washington, D.C., White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a press conference reaffirmed that the president has no plans of pardoning his son.
But he is facing calls to do so from all directions. “The View” co-host Ana Navarro argued that Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law and former senior adviser Jared Kushner, in 2020.
“So, you know what? It’s your son, he probably wouldn’t have been prosecuted if his last name wasn’t Biden. Baby, you got 2½ months, I’m good with you pardoning Hunter,” Navarro said on Nov. 11.
Should Biden fail to pardon his son, could the president-elect pardon Hunter Biden? Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last month, “I wouldn’t take it off the books … despite what they’ve done to me,” as Forbes reported.
“See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously … and Hunter’s a bad boy,” Trump said at the time. “He’s been a bad boy. … But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.”
