The White House has declined to rule out President Joe Biden commuting any criminal sentence for his son, a day after Hunter Biden was convicted in a federal gun trial.
When asked about a commutation, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters she did not “have anything [to share] beyond” what the president had already said about the case. A Delaware jury on Tuesday found Hunter Biden guilty of lying about his drug use when buying a revolver in 2018.
Ms Jean-Pierre, who emphasised she had not spoken to the president about commutation, instead pointed to an interview from last week when Mr Biden said he would not pardon his son.
US presidents have the power to commute sentences for defendants convicted of federal offences. They can also choose to outright pardon such convictions, vacating them entirely. Commuting a sentence would leave the conviction intact, but replace a sentence given in court with a lesser one.
Presidents do not have the power of commutation or pardon in state-level cases. Aboard Air Force One on Wednesday, Ms Jean-Pierre told a group of journalists: “He [President Biden] and the first lady love their son and they support their son, I just don't have anything… beyond that.”
She added that she would not divulge anything about the time Mr Biden spent with his family on Tuesday evening, when the president unexpectedly travelled to Wilmington, Delaware, following the jury's guilty verdict in his son's case.
Ms Jean-Pierre's comments appeared to mark a shift since last September, when she was asked in a briefing if the president would “pardon or commute his son if he’s convicted”.
“I’ve answered this question before,” she responded at the time. “It was asked of me not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago. And I was very clear, and I said no.”
Flying on Wednesday to Italy, where the president is due to attend the G7 summit, Ms Jean-Pierre also read out a previous statement from Mr Biden about the conviction when he pledged to “accept the outcome of this case and… respect the judicial process”.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two charges related to lying about his drug use on a federal background check, and one for possessing a gun while addicted to or using drugs. The 54-year-old claimed he was in recovery when he purchased the gun in October 2018.
In total, Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison, though legal experts say a sentence that long is very unlikely.
Constitutional scholars disagree on whether a president’s pardon power includes himself, though Donald Trump – if he won the presidency in November – could be the first to try if he were to be convicted in either of the two federal criminal cases he faces.
— CutC by bbc.com
