Joe and Hunter Biden in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Friday. Photograph: Craig Hudson/Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of making false statements on a gun background check and illegally possessing a firearm and pled guilty to federal tax charges.
"Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," he said in a statement released by the White House.
The White House had said repeatedly that Biden would not pardon or commute the sentences of his son, a recovering drug addict who became a target of Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump.
"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," Biden said.
Hunter Biden faced sentencing for the false statements and gun convictions on Wednesday. In September he pled guilty to federal charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending lavishly on drugs, sex workers and luxury items. He faced sentencing in that case on Dec. 16.
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport," Hunter Biden said in a statement on Sunday, adding he had remained sober for more than five years.
"In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages ... I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
The president, whose son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015, said his opponents had sought to break Hunter with selective prosecution.
He said people were rarely brought to trial for felony charges over how they filled out a gun form, and said others who were late in paying taxes because of addiction but paid them back with interest and penalties as his son had typically received "non-criminal resolutions" to their cases.
"It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. 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," Biden said. "In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."
Biden said he had decided over the weekend. The president, his wife, Jill Biden, and their family including Hunter, spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts and returned to Washington on Saturday night.
During a walk around Nantucket shops on Friday afternoon, one supporter shouted at the president from across a street to pardon his son.
"Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further," Biden said.
"I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."
拜登赦免了被定罪的兒子亨特
美國總統拜登週日表示，他已赦免了兒子亨特拜登，亨特因在槍支背景調查中做出虛假陳述和非法持有槍支而被定罪，並承認聯邦稅收指控。
「今天，我簽署了對我兒子亨特的赦免書。從我上任那天起，我就說過我不會干涉司法部的決策，儘管我看到我的兒子被選擇性地、不公平地對待，但我還是遵守了諾言。
白宮曾多次表示，拜登不會赦免或減刑他的兒子，他是一名正在康復的吸毒者，已成為包括當選總統唐納德·川普在內的共和黨人的目標。
拜登說：“任何理性的人在研究亨特案件事實後都無法得出任何其他結論，除了亨特被挑出來只是因為他是我的兒子。”
亨特拜登週三因虛假陳述和槍支定罪而面臨判刑。 9 月，他承認聯邦指控有罪，罪名是未繳納 140 萬美元稅款，同時在毒品、性工作者和奢侈品上揮霍無度。 12 月 16 日，他在此案中面臨宣判。
亨特·拜登在周日的聲明中表示：「我承認在我成癮最黑暗的日子裡犯下的錯誤並承擔責任，這些錯誤被用來公開羞辱和羞辱我和我的家人，以進行政治運動。
「在毒癮的痛苦中，我浪費了許多機會和優勢……我永遠不會把今天所得到的寬大視為理所當然，並將把我重建的生活奉獻給那些仍然患病和受苦的人。”
總統的兒子博 (Beau) 於 2015 年死於腦癌，總統表示，他的對手試圖透過選擇性起訴來擊敗亨特。
他說，人們很少因填寫槍支表格的方式而受到重罪指控，並表示其他人因毒癮而遲交稅款，但以利息和罰款的方式償還了稅款，因為他的兒子通常會收到「非刑事犯罪」決議」來處理他們的案件。
「很明顯，亨特受到了不同的待遇。他案件中的指控是在我在國會的幾位政治對手煽動他們攻擊我並反對我當選之後才提出的，」拜登說。 “在試圖摧毀亨特的過程中，他們也試圖摧毀我——沒有理由相信事情會就此停止。受夠了。”
拜登表示，他在周末就做出了決定。 總統、他的妻子吉爾拜登以及包括亨特在內的家人在馬薩諸塞州楠塔基特島度過了感恩節假期，並於週六晚上返回華盛頓。
週五下午，在楠塔基特島的商店散步時，一名支持者在街上對面向總統大喊，要求赦免他的兒子。
「事實是這樣的：我相信司法系統，但當我努力解決這個問題時，我也相信原始政治已經感染了這個過程，並導致了誤判——當我本週末做出這個決定時，沒有進一步推遲是有意義的，」拜登說。
“我希望美國人能夠理解為什麼一位父親和一位總統會做出這個決定。”
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