Former First Lady Jill Biden revealed her support for former President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon their son, Hunter Biden.She said that the legal process against him became unfair and difficult after Donald Trump won the elections.In an interview with CBS News, Jill said Hunter was unfairly targeted and defended her husband’s controversial pardon in the final weeks of his presidency.“The Department of Justice has changed, and the process has not been fair to Hunter,” Jill Biden said.She added: “When Trump was elected, things changed and we knew he was going to target Hunter. We couldn’t let our son go to prison on a charge that no one would go to prison for — I mean, no one went to prison for it.”When asked if she pushed Joe to pardon Hunter, Jill did not directly say she encouraged him. But she made it clear that she supports this decision.“Oh my God, I really supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe,” she said.Hunter Biden, 56, was convicted in Delaware in June 2024 on three federal charges connected to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while concealing his drug use.
Three months later, he pleaded guilty in a separate federal case in Los Angeles involving $1.4 million in tax evasion.Both cases against Hunter Biden were handled by private attorney David Weiss. The investigation moved forward after a plea deal that could have kept Hunter out of prison collapsed in July 2023. The deal collapsed because Hunter’s attorneys wanted legal protection from possible future charges, including potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.Around the same time, IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler claimed that Justice Department officials interfered in parts of the investigation. They alleged that prosecutors informed Hunter Biden’s attorneys about the planned search and limited efforts to investigate Joe Biden’s connections to his son’s business activities abroad.Jill Biden’s assertion that people typically don’t go to prison for crimes similar to Hunter’s gun conviction has drawn scrutiny.
Rapper Kodak Black was sentenced to 46 months in prison in 2019 after pleading guilty to providing false information during a federal firearms purchase.Despite repeated assurances from the White House that Joe Biden would not pardon his son, the former president issued a blanket pardon on December 1, 2024. The pardon included all crimes that Hunter Biden may have committed between January 1, 2014 and the date of the pardon, including crimes for which no charges were brought.On his final day in office in January 2025, Biden also issued protective pardons to several family members, including his brothers James and Frank Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens, and their spouses.When asked about those decisions, Jill Biden said that her husband acted because “I assume for the same reason, that he felt they would be targeted.”
