The White House is not ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden, the president’s son who was convicted on three federal gun crimes. “As we all know, the sentencing hasn’t even been scheduled yet,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday on Air Force One as President Joe Biden traveled to the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
Quick Read
- The White House is not ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden, who was convicted on three federal gun crimes.
- White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned that the sentencing for Hunter Biden hasn’t been scheduled yet and that she hasn’t discussed the issue with President Joe Biden since the verdict.
- President Biden ruled out pardoning his son during an ABC News interview last week, but the White House has not provided a definitive stance on commutation.
- A pardon restores certain rights lost upon conviction, while a commutation reduces the sentence but keeps the conviction intact.
- This position is a shift from the White House’s stance in September, when Jean-Pierre had said President Biden would not pardon or commute his son if convicted.
- Hunter Biden was convicted of lying on a mandatory gun purchase form about his drug use and illegally possessing the gun for 11 days.
- The three counts carry up to 25 years in prison, but the final decision on Hunter Biden serving time will be up to U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who has not yet set a date for sentencing.
The Associated Press has the story:
White House isn’t ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden after his conviction
Newslooks- ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) —
The White House is not ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden, the president’s son who was convicted on three federal gun crimes.
“As we all know, the sentencing hasn’t even been scheduled yet,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday on Air Force One as President Joe Biden traveled to the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
She said she has not spoken to the president about the issue since the verdict was delivered Tuesday.
Biden definitively ruled out pardoning his son during an ABC News interview last week.
“He was very clear, very upfront, obviously very definitive,” Jean-Pierre said of the president’s remarks about a potential pardon. But on a commutation, “I just don’t have anything beyond that.”
A pardon is an expression of forgiveness of a criminal offense that restores some rights, such as voting, that a person loses upon conviction. Meanwhile, a commutation reduces a sentence but leaves the conviction intact.
The position from the White House is a shift from what it said in September, when Jean-Pierre was asked whether the president would “pardon or commute his son if he’s convicted.” The press secretary responded at the time that “I’ve answered this question before. It was asked of me not too long ago, a couple of weeks ago. And I was very clear, and I said no.”
Hunter Biden was convicted of lying on a mandatory gun purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
The three counts carry up to 25 years in prison. But whether the president’s son actually serves any time behind bars will be up to U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika. The judge, who was nominated to the bench by former Republican President Donald Trump, didn’t immediately set a date for sentencing.
