Fact check: Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter Biden was one last fuck you from the Democratic leader before leaving office.

1. Summary of the results

1. Summary of the results

President Joe Biden did pardon his son Hunter Biden on December 1, 2024, covering federal tax and gun charges, as well as potential unprosecuted offenses from January 2014 through December 2024. This occurred despite Biden's previous public statements that he would not pardon his son.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original statement omits several crucial pieces of context:

• The pardon followed established legal proceedings where multiple federal judges, including Trump appointees, rejected Hunter Biden's claims of selective prosecution
• Special Counsel David C. Weiss, a Republican, led the investigation
• Similar pardons of family members have historical precedent, with both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump pardoning relatives during their presidencies
• Biden publicly justified the pardon by claiming his son was unfairly targeted due to his position as the president's son, particularly while struggling with addiction

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The characterization of the pardon as "one last fuck you" represents a partisan interpretation that benefits Republican politicians and media figures who seek to portray the Biden administration as corrupt and vindictive. The statement ignores the complex legal and personal factors involved:

• It overlooks the established precedent of presidential pardons for family members
• It disregards Biden's stated justification about selective prosecution
• It simplifies a complex legal and family matter into a purely political act
• It omits that tax law experts noted Hunter's prosecution was not entirely unusual for high-profile individuals

The reality is more nuanced than either Biden's claim of selective prosecution or critics' allegations of corruption would suggest.