White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the possibility of President Biden pardoning his son, Hunter, for the first time since the latter was indicted on federal charges for making false statements and unlawfully possessing a firearm.
‘Will the president pardon or commute his son if he is convicted?’ one reporter asked Jean-Pierre during Friday’s daily White House press briefing.
‘So 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,’ Jean-Pierre responded.
Her answer was unchanged from the one she gave in July following Hunter’s first appearance at a Delaware federal court where the president’s sonded not guilty to tax charges pl. Jean-Pierre simply said ‘no’ when asked if the president would pardon his son if convicted.
Biden was indicted Thursday on federal gun charges out of Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation.
He was specifically charged with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
These are the first charges Weiss has brought against the first son since being granted special counsel status.
The charges come after an original plea agreement collapsed during Hunter’s July court appearance, when he was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a plea deal to avoid jail time on the felony gun charge.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Brandon Gillespie is an associate editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @brandon_cg.
