Former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden spoke about his father’s decision to pardon him at the end of his presidential term in a Friday interview, saying it was not “good for” the U.S. Constitution, his father’s legacy, or the American people.
“Was it good for our Constitution? Was it good for the American people? Was it good for my dad’s legacy? No, on all counts. It was not,” Hunter Biden said in an interview with BBC’s Newsnight. “It’s something that is easily criticized and for good reason. And I can’t pretend otherwise.”
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Joe Biden unconditionally pardoned Hunter Biden in the last weeks of his presidency, reversing his prior long-held stance that he would not pardon his own son. The pardon relieved Hunter Biden of his conviction on three felony gun charges and of his then-upcoming sentencing hearing on nine federal tax charges, which he had pled guilty to.
“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,” Joe Biden said in a 2024 statement on the pardon. “Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form.”
Hunter Biden told the outlet that although he believed the pardon was not “good” for his father’s legacy, he is “grateful” for the decision.
“All I know is that I’m grateful that he did it for me,” Hunter Biden said. “And all I can say to anybody out there is: what would you have thought of my dad if he did not do that for me? And left me to the whims of Donald Trump? What would you think of a dad that would say ‘I’ll put you in a prison controlled by a guy who’s made it clear that he’s willing to do just about anything to get his way for himself’?”
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Hunter Biden has recently stepped further into the spotlight in an apparent attempt to reclaim his public image. He reemerged on social media in 2026, sharing on his first X post, “You’ve never actually heard from me.”
He is also scheduled to sit down for an interview with Tucker Carlson on Aug. 10.
