Summary

President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden, reversing his prior stance against using executive clemency.

The pardon covers Hunter’s federal gun conviction and tax evasion guilty plea, sparking political controversy.

Biden cited political attacks and a “miscarriage of justice” as reasons for his decision, emphasizing his son’s recovery from addiction and the targeting of his family.

Critics argue the move undermines the judicial process, while supporters view it as within Biden’s constitutional powers.

This decision shields Hunter from potential prison time as Biden nears the end of his presidency.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    1 day ago

    Considering Hunter Biden was the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt, and not an actual criminal. I have no problem with this,

    • kava@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      and not an actual criminal

      yeah it can happen to anybody. sometimes you just forget to pay $1.4M you owe in taxes from the millions of dollars of dubious payments from overseas organizations (Burisma Holdings) owned by Russian oligarchs (Mykola Zlochevsky) that just happened to be investigated, tried and convicted of corruption

      you know what message this sends to us plebs? they can do whatever the fuck they want. all we can do is sit and watch

      • btaf45@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        sometimes you just forget to pay $1.4M you owe in taxes

        That’s not what he was convicted of. It was for buying a gun. That’s a bullshit witch hunt. If it was for tax evasion I would be more upset.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden) pleaded guilty in federal court in Los Angeles this afternoon to all counts in a nine-count indictment, including three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses. There was no plea agreement.

          He pled guilty. Read more: https://www.justice.gov/sco-weiss/pr/robert-hunter-biden-convicted-three-felony-tax-offenses-and-six-misdemeanor-tax-offenses

          He was playing money and tax evasion games. Getting millions of dollars of payments from a sketchy sources in Eastern Europe through his law firm and then what would be called embezzling from his company under different circumstances

          This is not normal people behavior. This is most likely the tip of the iceberg. It’s actually a nice little sneak peek into how much money flows between different oligarchs (including US ones) through these sketchy illicit channels

          This guy absolutely is a criminal. There’s no question about it. The trial probably is politically motivated too.

      • Radioactive Butthole@reddthat.com
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        20 hours ago

        Mykola was convicted before Hunter got involved.

        But since you believe this actually matters for some reason, what did Jared Kushner get 2 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia for after being appointed national security advisor to the president (against intelligence advisement) and given sci top secret clearance?

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        23 hours ago

        If the law truly means nothing, then may it be exposed as such and may all do as they will.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      It’s not like Hunter was a convicted felon serving as President, or any political office. If y’all want to try to throw the rock of corruption, you might want to leave that glass house or step away from the windows

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        18 hours ago

        Indeed, if Trump can skate for stuff he actually fucking did on nationa television, Hunter doesn’t need to go to jail for the results of a witch hunt.

    • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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      1 day ago

      Yeah no actual crimes that is why he plead guilty to all of them.

      He can both have committed the crimes and have only been attacked as a member of the upper class because of a political jab. The judicial system being used for petty revenge doesn’t make it better when it mostly just discredits the system and the position of the president.

    • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      You do realize they had solid evidence of. at least, one 3rd degree felony, owning a firearm when previous convictions bar you from doing so committed fraud on the paperwork to own a gun. right? He has been in criminal trouble, doing things many people are spending decades in prison for, and has never had a serious issue because daddy is Joe Biden. You know, one of the biggest signatories to the drug war, that Joe Biden? Fuck him.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        4 hours ago

        Yes, but the “fraud” was him just saying he had no drugs in his system, for a gun he only owned for 11 days.

        And as many legal scholars have pointed out, no one really ever gets charged for this, it’s just sorta “on the books” with its use against Hunter Biden being one of the only times the law has ever been enforced, and it was only enforced to score a political point with the far right.

        Selective enforcement is wrong, no matter if you’re the President’s son or just another face in the crowd in the most poverty stricken town in America.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        He was not a felon. That rule applies to felony convictions. And can be repaired by the state that convicted you.

        The charges were for buying a gun while being an addict.

        • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          Ok, I was wrong about it being barred. He got a felony fraud charge for lying on the paperwork to own the gun. It is still a crime, and he still did it. The charges aren’t fake. My point still stands that he is going to not have anything happen, again, because he is a nepo-baby, fuck him. There are people in prison for this, right now, and his dad was one of the biggest political agents behind the types of laws he broke. Rules for thee, and all that.

          • btaf45@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            My point still stands that he is going to not have anything happen, again, because he is a nepo-baby, fuck him

            What actually happened is that the only reason he was prosecuted was because he was a high profile person.

            Hunter Biden was not above the law in the case. He was below the law.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            22 hours ago

            I don’t care who his dad is the law is a thought crime that can get you put in prison on nothing more than innuendo. Make a bad joke about drugs after going to a shooting range? You too can go to prison.

            And it’s rarely used as anything more than an add on charge because of its constitutional dubiousness. We shouldn’t be okay with this happening to anyone.

            • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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              18 hours ago

              I never agreed with the law. I am mad that he broke a law, one his dad fought for, and he isn’t going to go to prison for it like I would. The law its self is a whole other matter than what is being discussed here, about him being pardoned, after being convicted of a crime, because daddy is the president, with the extra poignancy that daddy is one of the major reasons that law exists.

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                15 hours ago

                Biden was at Syracuse University in 1968. He would go on to be elected to the County Council. He didn’t become a Senator until 1973. So how exactly was he, “one of the major reasons that law exists”, when he wasn’t even an elected official at the time.

                • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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                  5 hours ago

                  Didn’t say he wrote it, or that he voted to initially pass it. I said he is a major reason it exists. This law has come under fire numerous times, and Joe has always supported it, rather than supporting over-turning it. Even as recently as 2023, after the supreme court decided it was unconstitutional, he still staunchly showed his support for it.

                  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                    1 hour ago

                    with the extra poignancy that daddy is one of the major reasons that law exists.

                    Funny, that sounds a lot like he either created it or filibustered its repeal. Do you have evidence he did a filibuster? Or is this another thing Fox News threw out there to smear him? Because that sentence sure doesn’t sound like he’s just got the cheerleading poms poms out.

        • kreskin@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          He was not a felon

          Not true. Hunter Biden was convicted of 3 felony tax evasion charges and 6 misdemeanor tax evasion charges totalling 1.4 million in intentional fraud. Plus three felony charges of lying on a gun registration. He absolutely was a 6 time felon awaiting sentencing. The decision whether he was a felon or not was already settled by a jury of his peers.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            The above comment was deleted, but they were referring to the felony bar to purchasing a firearm. Which is why that’s what my comment discusses.

      • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        You do realize they had solid evidence of. at least, one 3rd degree felony, owning a firearm when previous convictions bar you from doing so committed fraud on the paperwork to own a gun. right? He has been in criminal trouble, doing things many people are spending decades in prison for, and has never had a serious issue because daddy is Joe Biden. You know, one of the biggest signatories to the drug war, that Joe Biden? Fuck him.

        reposting my old comment here because it deleted when I saved the edit