Biden pardons son Hunter in final weeks of US presidency

US President Joe Biden on Sunday issued an official pardon for his son Hunter, who was facing sentencing for two criminal cases, despite assurances that he would not intervene in his legal troubles.

“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,” the president said in a statement.

The move is sure to bring about fresh scrutiny over the independence of the US judicial system - especially at a time when incoming president Donald Trump has moved to appoint loyalists to the FBI and Justice Department himself.

The younger Biden was convicted earlier this year of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun - a felony - and has also pleaded guilty in a separate tax evasion trial, but had not faced sentencing.

Joe Biden, who is in the final weeks of his presidency before Trump takes office on Jan.20, had repeatedly said he wouldn’t pardon his son.

“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,” Biden said in Sunday’s statement.

“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,” he added. “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.”

The pardon comes as criminal cases against President-elect Trump have stalled after a sweeping ruling on presidential immunity by the Supreme Court - all but ensuring Biden’s Republican rival will likely never see a jail cell, even after his landmark conviction for falsifying business records in May.

US presidents have previously used pardons to help family members and other political allies.

Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother for old cocaine charges and Trump pardoned the father of his son-in-law for tax evasion, though in both cases those men had already served their prison terms.

Agence France-Presse