President Joe Biden reportedly believes Hunter Biden is a victim of justice being weaponized following his gun conviction on Tuesday.
Last week in France, Biden pledged he would not pardon Hunter but has not spoken about delivering a commutation.
“If I weren’t running for reelection, he would have gotten the plea deal,” Biden told a confidant earlier this month, according to a source familiar with the conversation.
In 2023, Hunter refused to accept a gun-related plea deal from the government. This offer came after his initial plea deal fell apart under judicial scrutiny, with the judge calling it “atypical” and “not straightforward.”
The original deal included immunity from future charges and a provision to potentially remove a felony gun violation from his record. It allowed Hunter to plead guilty to not paying taxes on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018, receiving probation instead of jail time.
After the first deal collapsed, the government offered Hunter a second plea deal related to gun charges, which he rejected, choosing to go to trial in Delaware. Subsequently, the government indicted Hunter in 2023 for tax violations in California.
The tax trial is set for September 2024.
