Smith: Hunter Biden pardon was a shameless cover-up

On Dec. 1, President Joe Biden proved yet again that he is the most corrupt Commander in Chief in American history when he pardoned his son Hunter Biden for serious tax and gun crimes that would have landed the average American in prison. After claiming he wouldn’t pardon his son and spending the last four years lecturing Americans about the importance of the rule of law, Biden has shown just how empty his and Washington Democrats’ rhetoric truly is. No matter how hard he tries to spin it, the pardon was just his latest action to protect his family from facing the consequences of their illegal, multimillion-dollar business scheme.

In the statement he released announcing the pardon, Biden said the charges in Hunter Biden’s cases “came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election.” Let me make this clear: As one of the three committee chairs who led the investigation into the Biden family’s shady business dealings, his statement couldn’t be farther from the truth. We launched our investigation after two brave IRS whistleblowers, one of whom is a lifetime Democrat, came forward to my Ways and Means Committee to share their concerns that the son of the most powerful person in the world was receiving special treatment by the federal government. Biden’s claim that the investigation was politically motivated is just one of several bald-faced lies he’s told to try and defend the pardon.

Last year, Hunter Biden was set to receive the plea deal of the century. But it fell apart because a federal judge agreed with me and the two IRS whistleblowers that the plea deal was something the average American wouldn’t have ever received: In addition to avoiding any prison time for felony gun and tax charges, the plea deal would have protected Hunter Biden from being charged with crimes in the future. In his statement announcing the pardon, Biden had the nerve to say that the plea deal “would have been a fair, reasonable, resolution of Hunter’s cases.” The American people aren’t stupid. They know full that the plea deal was only something a person with the last name Biden would receive.

Biden also claimed that his son was politically targeted and unfairly convicted on nine federal tax crimes, including three felonies. The truth is that hundreds of Americans every year are sentenced to prison for similar – and even less serious – tax crimes. A North Carolina man was sentenced to three years in prison for tax crimes where he owed $380,000 to the IRS and California. A man from Michigan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for filing false tax returns. They broke the law and faced the consequences. Yet Hunter Biden, who chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes and filed false tax returns, was given a get out of jail free card by his father.

It’s important to point out that the pardon is unprecedented — and not just because it’s the first time a president has pardoned their son. The pardon protects Hunter Biden not just from the gun and tax charges he was convicted on, but also other crimes “he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.” That doesn’t pass the smell test.

The pardon was the latest in a string of efforts by this administration to cover up and dismiss the years of criminal activity committed by the Biden family of which evidence has shown the president was not only aware but clearly complicit. But the pardon cannot and will not undermine or cover up the mountain of evidence that has shown the level of corruption committed in a blatant attempt to trade on the name and power of political office to enrich the Biden family. While the pardon greatly benefited his family, it will forever define his legacy and significantly damage Americans’ trust in our judicial system.

Jason Smith (R-MO) represents the eighth congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.