President Biden last week said he would accept the jury’s verdict in his son Hunter’s criminal trials and would not use his authority to pardon his son if he is convicted.
In an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir from Normandy, Biden discussed a variety of issues, including his recent authorization permitting Ukraine to use US-supplied short-range missiles to strike within Russia as well as his surviving son’s ongoing legal issues and Donald Trump’s felony conviction.
Hunter was on trial in a Delaware federal court facing three federal gun charges for lying on a federal gun form about his ongoing drug use when purchasing a revolver. The younger Biden also faces federal tax charges in California for failing to pay federal income taxes.
When asked if he would rule out a presidential pardon for Hunter, the president said he would, adding that he would accept the jury’s verdict in the case.
The White House said shortly after Hunter was indicted last year that the president would not pardon his son if he was convicted.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters last December that the president was “not going to pardon his son.”
Tennessee Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen last year proposed a constitutional amendment barring presidents from using their constitutional pardon power to pardon themselves or their family members. However, the amendment has gone nowhere.
When Hunter’s Delaware trial began, President Biden said in a statement that as President he would not comment on any pending federal case but added that as a father, he had “boundless love” and confidence in his son and respected his strength.
The president said he and First Lady Jill Biden would continue to love and support Hunter and to “be there” for him and the rest of the Biden family.
Mrs. Biden has attended most of the Delaware trial, even flying back from the ceremonies in Normandy commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.
In his interview with David Muir, Biden also blasted Donald Trump for calling his conviction in the hush money trial “rigged,” claiming that Trump was seeking to “undermine” the rule of law and insisting that the former president received a fair trial.
