President-elect Donald Trump, after President Joe Biden pardoned his son of federal convictions, hinted January 6 “hostages” would receive justice. Biden on Sunday night pardoned his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted for federal gun and tax evasion, ahead of his upcoming sentencing. Biden and White House officials on numerous occasions stated he would not use his executive authority to do so. The pardon comes mere weeks before Trump’s inauguration, and days before Hunter Biden’s December 12 sentencing for his conviction on three counts of federal gun charges involving possessing a firearm while on crack cocaine. In a separate legal case, Hunter Biden in September pleaded guilty to nine counts involving $1.4 million in federal tax evasion charges. The sentencing was scheduled for December 16. .Trump spokesman Steven Cheung an hour after Biden issued a statement he had pardoned his son released a statement on behalf of the incoming president. While he made no mention of the Biden pardon specifically, he blasted the Department of Justice for its miscarriage of justice in pursuing its “”failed witch hunts against President Trump.”The witch hunts “have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system,” wrote Cheung, per the New York Post.“That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.”Trump shortly after posted to social media confronting the Biden pardon directly. “Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” wrote Trump. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!” Trump posted on Truth Social.”.There are more than 1,500 January 6 defendants who are facing trial or have already been convicted for breaching the Capitol, according to the Post. Biden in a statement Sunday night blamed his son’s sentencing on “raw politics” and said he hopes Americans would understand why a father and president would intervene with the court. The president said his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”.“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” wrote Biden. “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.”“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.”“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”.In June, following his son’s arms conviction, the president said he had already said in the past he would “abide by the jury decision.”“I will do that and I will not pardon him,” he said, per the Post. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently reiterated the same claim. “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is ‘no,'" she said. Last week, White House spokesman Andrew Bates when asked if Biden is “still committed to not granting clemency for his son,” replied, “The president has spoken to this.”“I don’t have anything to add what he said already,” he said, per NBC. Even First lady Jill Biden has spoken on the matter. “Joe and I both respect the judicial system, and that’s the bottom line,” she said in an interview in June, per NBC.
