Jun 6, 2025 minute read

The only pardon that former President Joe Biden appeared to sign by hand was his son’s, Hunter Biden, perhaps the most controversial of all of his acts of clemency.

During Biden’s final weeks in the White House, he used the pardon power to hand out pardons and acts of clemency to over 1,500 people. During his final weeks, he also signed controversial preemptive pardons for other members of his family, as well as Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, and members of the Congressional January 6 committee, but with the autopen. 

According to Fox News, the one pardon that appears to have been hand-signed by Biden was for his son Hunter, who the president repeatedly said he would not pardon. Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felonies during an investigation into the president’s son by special counsel David Weiss. The younger Biden was also charged with failing to pay over $1.4 million in taxes.

Not only did the president sign a pardon for the crimes that his son was convicted for and charged with, but the pardon also included any crime Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024. 

2014 also happens to be the year that Hunter Biden took on a role as a board member at the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, where he was paid $80,000 per month without having the necessary experience. Hunter’s role at the company has been brought under heavy scrutiny as Biden was tasked with handling US relations with Ukraine when he was the vice president under the Obama administration.

“For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss,” the pardon signed December 1, 2024 stated.

Hunter Biden had a sentencing date fast approaching on December 12, 2024, at the time of his father’s pardon.