Accounting
Biden pardons son Hunter in reversal with weeks left in term
President Joe Biden signed a sweeping pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, reversing his previous stance that he would not use his executive powers to aid his oldest-living child.
Biden justified the pardon by saying that the case against his son was politically tinged, excessive and designed to “break” him and Hunter. Biden issued the statement as he was set to leave for Africa.
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said in a written statement on Sunday. “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.”
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Biden’s move marks a stunning decision by an outgoing president, coming just weeks before he is set to leave office and President-elect Donald Trump is set to take power.
Trump has pardoned people close to him and has vowed to pardon those convicted of involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in his second term. Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, in his first term and nominated Kushner recently as U.S. ambassador to France.
Trump assailed the president’s decision
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!,” Trump wrote. not supported.
Biden and the White House have repeatedly said that the president would not pardon his son, who was found guilty of gun charges by a federal court in Delaware earlier this year, becoming the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted of crimes. His sentencing in that case was set for Dec. 12.
Those denials have come as recently as November, when White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, “That’s not what we’re going to do,” when asked about the possibility of a pardon or commutation.
The younger Biden, 54, also pleaded guilty in a separate felony tax case in September.
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” Hunter Biden said in a statement. “I will never take the clemency I have been given today for granted and will devote the life I have rebuilt to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
Hunter Biden’s legal team filed motions in courts in Delaware and Los Angeles, where he was subject to charges in a separate alleged tax evasion case, notifying them of the pardon and saying the cases must now be dismissed.
The president’s pardon, first reported by NBC News, is broad, covering not only criminal acts which Hunter Biden has been convicted of but other potential legal challenges that may await.
The “full and unconditional pardon” Biden signed for his son covers “those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell did not immediately respond to requests for comment and the U.S. Department of Justice’s special prosecutor David Weiss declined to comment.
Republican criticism
Hunter Biden’s legal problems have posed a political and personal challenge for the president — particularly during his reelection bid. Republicans have investigated the younger Biden over his business dealings, accusing him of using his connections to his father to illegally benefit their family. There has been no solid evidence that the president has benefitted from his son’s misdeeds. There has been no connection made to President Biden’s political activities and Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
Still, the younger Biden’s legal woes dogged his father’s campaign and undercut efforts by Democrats to hammer Trump over his own criminal cases, including becoming the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony over hush-money payments to an adult film star.
Trump and fellow Republicans have accused Biden without evidence of orchestrating the criminal indictments against the president-elect.
The Trump team seized on Biden’s suggestions that the case was politically motivated as confirmation of their longstanding claims about the Justice Department.
“The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement Sunday. “That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans.”
The pardon announcement drew quick condemnation from Republican lawmakers, including Representative James Comer, whose House Oversight Committee has been investigating the Biden family’s business practices, but has yet to find any evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
“It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability,” Comer wrote in a post on X.
Hunter Biden faced the threat of significant time in prison. Two of the gun counts carry maximum prison time of 10 years; the third is punishable by up to five years. He faced as much as 17 years in prison for the tax charges. Judges, however, rarely impose maximum sentences.
Easing restrictions, sharpening personal attention and clarifying denials are among the aims of
The programs focus on “fast track settlement,” which allows IRS Appeals to mediate disputes between a taxpayer and the IRS while the case is still within the jurisdiction of the examination function, and post-appeals mediation, in which a mediator is introduced to help foster a settlement between Appeals and the taxpayer.
The IRS has been revitalizing existing ADR programs as part of transformation efforts of the agency’s new strategic plan, said Elizabeth Askey, chief of the IRS Independent Office of Appeals.
“By increasing awareness, changing and revitalizing existing programs and piloting new approaches, we hope to make our ADR programs, such as fast-track settlement and post-appeals mediation, more attractive and accessible for all eligible parties,” said Michael Baillif, director of Appeals’ ADR Program Management Office.
Among other improvements, the pilots:
- Align the Large Business and International, Small Business and Self-Employed and Tax Exempt and Government Entities divisions in offering FTS issue by issue. Previously, if a taxpayer had one issue ineligible for FTS, the entire case was ineligible.
- Provide that requests to participate in FTS and PAM will not be denied without the approval of a first-line executive.
- Clarify that taxpayers receive an explanation when requests for FTS or PAM are denied.
Another pilot, Last Chance FTS, is a limited scope SB/SE pilot in which Appeals will call taxpayers or their representatives after a protest is filed in response to a 30-day or equivalent letter to inform taxpayers about the potential application of FTS. This pilot will not impact eligibility for FTS but will simply test the awareness of taxpayers regarding the availability of FTS.
A final pilot removes the limitation that participation in FTS would preclude eligibility for PAM.
The traditional appeals process remains available for all taxpayers.
Inquiries can be addressed to the ADR Program Management Office at
The Internal Revenue Service has updated and added new guidance for taxpayers claiming the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and the Residential Clean Energy Property Credit.
The updated
New sections have been added on how long a taxpayer has to claim the tax credits, guidance for condominium and co-op owners, whether taxpayers who did not previously claim the credit can file an amended return to claim it, and a series of questions on qualified manufacturers and product identification numbers. Other material has been added on how to claim the credits, what kind of records a taxpayer has to keep for claiming the credit, and for how long, and whether taxpayers can include financing costs such as interest payments in determining the amount of the credit.
The IRS states that “financing costs such as interest, as well as other miscellaneous costs such as origination fees and the cost of an extended warranty, are not eligible expenditures for purposes of the credit.”
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