Former first lady Jill Biden has publicly justified the controversial pardon President Joe Biden issued to his son Hunter Biden last December, telling CBS News that the family feared President-elect Donald Trump would weaponize the justice system against him.
In an interview on CBS News Sunday Morning, Jill Biden acknowledged that Trump’s return to power fundamentally altered the calculus. “When Trump was elected, things changed, and we knew that he would target Hunter,” she said. “We just could not let our son go to jail on a charge that no one would go, I mean, no one has ever gone to jail for.”
Pressed by correspondent Rita Braver on whether she urged the president to act, Jill Biden replied: “Oh, gosh, I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe.”
The pardon, signed in December 2024, wiped out Hunter Biden’s convictions on three felony gun charges and nine federal tax offenses. In June of that year, a jury found him guilty of lying about his drug use on a federal firearms form. Months later, he pleaded guilty to failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes.
Biden’s Defense of the Pardon
When announcing the clemency, President Biden framed it as a response to selective prosecution. “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,” he said at the time.
The former president added that the prosecution was part of a broader effort to break his family. “There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution,” 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.”
Critics, including many Republicans, have accused Biden of abusing his pardon power to protect a family member. The move has also stirred debate among Democrats, with some questioning the optics of a president pardoning his own son after repeatedly vowing not to interfere with the Justice Department.
The controversy comes amid broader scrutiny of the Trump administration’s use of executive authority. Reports of a slush fund tied to Trump allies and Senate efforts to block it have fueled accusations that both parties are willing to bend norms for political gain.
Jill Biden’s defense also arrives as she promotes her memoir, a tour that has already raised credibility questions from a former spokesperson. The White House declined to comment on the latest interview.
Hunter Biden’s legal saga has been a persistent political liability for the Biden family, and the pardon ensures it will remain a flashpoint in the ongoing battle over justice system politicization.
