The President of the United States, Joe Biden, stated, on Thursday, that he will not grant a pardon to Hunter Biden, his son, if he is convicted in the trials he faces.
This position was conveyed in an interview with ABC News, with journalist David Muir. When asked whether he would accept the outcome of the ongoing trial and whether he would rule out using his clemency powers to overturn a conviction, Biden responded, "Yes."
Biden's position goes against what his spokespeople had previously said, but it was the first time that the American president had officially adopted it.
Biden's spokespeople had previously said he would not pardon his 54-year-old son, but Thursday was the first time Biden himself made an official commitment.
It should be noted that presidents normally reserve their most controversial pardons for their final days in office, which means that Biden still has some time to change his mind, as highlighted by the North American press.
Remember that, at the beginning of the week, the US president declared "unlimited love" for his son and pride in his resilience, when the weapons trial against Hunter Biden began.
This is the first time in the history of the United States that the son of a sitting president faces a trial that, in this case, could affect the Democrat's electoral campaign in the presidential elections on November 5, as the Republicans, especially the fellow candidate Donald Trump often uses this issue as a political weapon.
Biden's son is accused of lying in October 2018 when he failed to acknowledge drug use on a form to buy a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver, which he kept for 11 days.
Hunter Biden's lawyers asked for the trial to be postponed to have time to find more witnesses and analyze the evidence provided by prosecutors, but Delaware District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the request.
On Sunday, Noreika also provoked new difficulties for the president's son's defense when she decided to reject the court appearance of one of her experts and exclude evidence that Hunter had hoped to use.
Hunter Biden - 54 years old, who pleaded not guilty to the three charges against him - publicly acknowledged that for decades he struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, which worsened after the death of his brother Beau Biden, in 2015, due to a brain tumour.
When he bought the gun in 2018, Hunter Biden was reportedly in depression after divorcing Kathleen Buhle, with whom he had three children and, in addition, going through a particularly difficult time due to his addiction to 'crack', like himself. narrated in his autobiographical book published in 2021.
The accusations against Hunter Biden result from an investigation opened in 2018 during the Donald Trump administration (2017-2021).
The president's son faces another trial in California, in which he is accused of having evaded the payment of a large sum in taxes.
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