‘Privileged’ Hunter Biden, spared by dad’s pardon, blasts Trump’s clemency power

Former first son Hunter Biden acknowledged he is “completely biased” about the sweeping pardon his father granted him in 2024, renewing attention on former President Joe Biden’s decision to reverse course after publicly ruling out clemency for his son.

“I’m completely biased as it relates to what my dad did for me. I fully understand how uniquely situated I am in being privileged enough to have received a pardon from my father,” Hunter said in an interview published Tuesday by liberal outlet MediasTouch, when asked if there should be reforms made to presidential pardons. 

The remarks put fresh attention on Biden’s decision to pardon his son after repeatedly pledging he would not – a reversal that undercut Democrats’ longtime “no one is above the law” message as Hunter Biden faced federal gun and tax charges.

Hunter Biden added that he was not in the position to weigh in on potential presidential pardon reforms following his father’s order, but went on to slam the Trump administration for its pardons since 2025 – including more than 1,000 individuals pardoned from prosecution related to the Jan. 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol. 

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Biden reversed course in the final months of his presidency, and issued a sweeping pardon to his son. Hunter Biden was pardoned for any offense he “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.

Hunter Biden said that he was “filled with gratitude” to his dad when discussing the pardon. 

In September 2024, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges in California for a scheme evading over $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. He was also convicted in Delaware in June 2024 for lying on a federal form about his drug use to purchase a firearm in 2018. 

Hunter Biden also pointed fingers at the current first family in the interview, saying, “I don’t think that the founders ever imagined Donald Trump. I don’t think they ever imagined the Trump family.”

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“I don’t think people understand is that, in the first year, I think—I don’t know the exact number—I think my dad gave 80 or so pardons over a four-year period of time. I think that that’s about the number,” said Hunter Biden. 

He added, “Donald Trump has given over 1,500 pardons in the first year alone. But I’m obviously—I’m not the one to be, I don’t think, fairly or unbiasedly talking about the presidential pardon vote.”

Trump did not pardon any of his children during his first administration. He did pardon the father of his son-in-law, Charles Kushner, in December 2020. Charles Kushner had served over a year in federal prison for tax evasion, witness retaliation, and campaign finance violations. 

“President Trump has exercised his constitutional authority to issue pardons and commutations for a variety of individuals, including those who have been victims of Biden’s weaponized justice system,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

“And the only pardons anyone should be critical of are from President Autopen, who pardoned and commuted sentences of violent criminals including child killers and mass murderers – and that’s not to mention the proactive pardons he ‘signed’ for his family members like Hunter on his way out the door.” 

Biden also issued pardons to his brother James, sister-in-law Sara, sister Valerie, and brother Francis, defending the move as protection from attacks and threats from Trump.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.