After months of denying it to reporters, President Joe Biden announced on December 1 that he was pardoning his son Hunter. On social media, several people tried to link the pardon to the impeachment of President-elect Donald Trump during his first term. An Instagram screenshot from December 4 said, “Want your head to explode?” “Trump was impeached for trying to investigate all the crimes that Joe Biden just pardoned Hunter over.”
The creator of the disproved 2022 film “2,000 Mules,” Dinesh D’Souza, posted the assertion on Instagram. In 2018, Trump granted D’Souza a presidential pardon. As part of Meta’s attempts to counteract misinformation and misleading news on its News Feed, the post was marked. The post is incorrect, as evidenced by the facts surrounding Hunter Biden’s pardon and Trump’s impeachment. The House impeached Trump twice, and the Senate cleared him twice. He was impeached in 2019 for abusing his position of authority and obstructing Congress. He was impeached in 2021 for his involvement in the Capitol disturbances on January 6, 2021.
Biden’s recent pardons
Two articles were published in the impeachment report in 2019. The first was Trump’s efforts to help his win by persuading the leader of a foreign country, Ukraine, to look into the Bidens, his political rivals. He accomplished this by refusing a White House visit and withholding military assistance. The second centered on Trump’s directives to executive branch government offices, agencies, and officials to refrain from assisting Congress in its impeachment investigation. Hunter Biden was granted a pardon by the president for crimes he “committed or may have committed or taken part in” between January 1, 2014, and December 1.
Hunter Biden became a member of the board of directors of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas business, in the spring of 2014. A September 2020 Senate Republicans investigation stated that “the extent to which Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board affected U.S. policy toward Ukraine is not clear.” Trump and his supporters have criticized Biden’s connections to the company. Nothing suggested that any associated charges were imminent. The House impeached Trump for the second time following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. According to the story, Trump’s speech to his fans, who subsequently stormed the Capitol, incited an uprising. Trump was exonerated after the Senate rejected the article of impeachment.
The Hunter Biden connection
Hunter Biden was found guilty by a jury in June of three charges: possessing a handgun while using a controlled substance illegally, making a false statement to a federally registered guns dealer, and making a false statement while purchasing a firearm. Hunter Biden entered a guilty plea in September to six misdemeanor tax crimes and three felonies. Hunter Biden was charged with failure to file, failure to pay, tax evasion, and filing a fraudulent return in the indictment, which concentrated on taxes he owed between 2016 and 2019. He awaited his anticipated sentencing on December 16. Trump’s “trying to investigate” Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes did not result in his impeachment. We give the claim a False rating. President Joe Biden and his advisors repeatedly stated for months that he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was being charged with federal crimes related to taxes and firearms. However, Joe Biden announced a broad pardon on December 1. Biden has been discussing a possible pardon since at least the summer. “Have you ruled out a pardon for your son?” questioned Joe Biden on June 6 by David Muir. To which Biden replied, “Yes.”
Investigating alleged crimes
During an international meeting a week later, Biden told reporters once more that “I will not pardon him” or commute his sentence, a lesser measure that would have lowered Hunter Biden’s sentence without overturning his conviction. 12 and the tax fraud charges on Dec. 16. “We’ve been asked that question several times,” she remarked. Our response, “no,” remains unchanged.
Fact | Detail |
Trump’s Impeachment | Convicted of abusing his position of authority and obstructing Congress’s investigation into Ukraine in 2019. |
Key Allegations | allegedly attempted to use pressure on Ukraine to look into Hunter Biden to gain political advantage. |
Hunter Biden Charges | Federal charges pertaining to alleged misbehavior, including tax evasion and weapons ownership. |
Biden’s Pardons | Among those pardoned by the president in 2024 is Hunter Biden. |
Public Controversy | Debates about political favoritism and accountability were rekindled by pardons. |
Political Reactions | Republicans have sharply criticized Biden, while Democrats have defended his conduct. |
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated Biden’s stance that he would not pardon his son on multiple subsequent occasions. A reporter inquired about a potential pardon as recently as Nov. 7, ahead of Jean-Pierre’s expected sentencing on the gun charges on Dec.
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