President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, ending a saga that has lasted for more than six years, with wide-ranging investigations by the Justice Department and both chambers of Congress related to his conduct and business dealings. 

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. 

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16. 

Here’s a look back at how it all began: 

The federal investigation into Hunter Biden began in 2018.

The probe was predicated, in part, by suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding foreign transactions. Those SARs, according to sources familiar with the investigation, involved funds from "China and other foreign nations."

Fox News first reported the existence of some type of federal investigation involving Hunter Biden in October 2020, ahead of the last presidential election. It became known then that in the course of an existing money laundering investigation, the FBI had subpoenaed the laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden.

Stories about the laptop were widely panned by Democrats and mainstream media outlets as Russian disinformation. At the time, then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe confirmed that the laptop was "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," but that claim was rejected by Democrats and many in the media.

Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook censored and limited the circulation of stories related to Hunter Biden's laptop before the 2020 presidential election.

Only in 2022 did media outlets verify that the laptop did belong to Hunter Biden and did hold legitimate records belonging to him.

Twitter, under the new ownership of Elon Musk, released records surrounding the company's decisions to block the circulation of the Hunter Biden stories – even though he had been under federal investigation at that point for nearly two years.

Hunter Biden confirmed the investigation into his "tax affairs" in December 2020, after his father was elected president.

But Hunter Biden’s business dealings were also, simultaneously, being investigated by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in 2019. Specifically, the senators were investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings with Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings. 

Grassley and Johnson released a report in September 2020 saying that Obama administration officials "knew" that Hunter Biden’s position on the board of Burisma was "problematic" and that it interfered "in the efficient execution of policy with respect to Ukraine."

Hunter Biden joined Burisma in April 2014 and, at the time, reportedly connected the firm with consulting firm Blue Star Strategies to help the natural gas company fight corruption charges in Ukraine. During the time Hunter Biden was on the board of the company, Joe Biden was vice president and was running U.S.-Ukraine relations and policy for the Obama administration.

Also in 2019, Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine came into the spotlight during the first impeachment of now-President-elect Donald Trump. 

House Republicans wanted to call Hunter Biden to testify in the impeachment proceedings in the fall of 2019. 

HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATORS LIMITED QUESTIONS ABOUT 'DAD,' 'BIG GUY' DESPITE FBI, IRS OBJECTIONS: WHISTLEBLOWER

Trump was acquitted in Feb. 2020 on both articles of impeachment against him — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — after being impeached by the House of Representatives in December 2019. 

Trump was impeached after a July 2019 phone call in which he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to launch investigations into the Biden family’s actions and business dealings in Ukraine, specifically Hunter Biden’s ventures with Burisma and Joe Biden’s successful effort to have former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin ousted.

At the same time as that call, Hunter Biden was under federal investigation, prompted by his suspicious foreign transactions. 

Trump's request was regarded by Democrats as a quid pro quo because millions in U.S. military aid to Ukraine had been frozen. Democrats also said Trump was meddling in the 2020 presidential election by asking a foreign leader to look into a Democrat political opponent.

Republicans had been investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings, specifically with regard Burisma. House Republicans, who were in the minority at the time, made several requests to subpoena Hunter Biden for testimony and documents related to the impeachment of Trump and his business dealings that fell at the center of the proceedings.

Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma and Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board, receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin were not fired.

FLASHBACK: DEMOCRATS CLASH WITH REPUBLICANS OVER PROSPECT OF CALLING HUNTER BIDEN IN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

"I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.' … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’" Biden recalled telling then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Biden recollected the conversation during an event for the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018.

Meanwhile, once President Biden took office, the House Oversight Committee led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., began investigating Hunter Biden’s business dealings and the business dealings of the Biden family. Comer ultimately found that the Biden family and its associates had received more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities since 2014.

But it wasn’t until 2023 that whistleblowers from the IRS, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, brought allegations of politicization in the federal probe of Hunter Biden to Congress. 

The two alleged that political influence had infected prosecutorial decisions in the federal probe, which was led by Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who they said had requested to become a special counsel. 

After Shapley and Ziegler testified publicly, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel to continue his investigation of the first son and, ultimately, bring federal charges against him in two separate jurisdictions — Delaware and California. 

House Republicans continued to investigate allegations of politicization brought by Ziegler and Shapley, as well as findings related to the Biden family’s business dealings from Comer’s probe. 

BIDEN COMMITTED ‘IMPEACHABLE CONDUCT,’ ‘DEFRAUDED UNITED STATES TO ENRICH HIS FAMILY’: HOUSE GOP REPORT

Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith came together and launched an impeachment inquiry against President Biden to determine whether he had any involvement in his son’s business dealings. Biden repeatedly denied having any involvement, despite evidence placing him at meetings and on phone calls with his son and his foreign business partners.

In August, House lawmakers released their final report, spanning 292 pages, saying that Biden had engaged in "impeachable conduct." They said he had "abused his office" and "defrauded the United States to enrich his family."  

Republicans said there is "overwhelming evidence" that Biden had participated in a "conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family." They alleged that the Biden family and their business associates had received tens of millions of dollars from foreign interests by "leading those interests to believe that such payments would provide them access to and influence with President Biden." 

In the summer of 2023, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to federal gun charges as part of a plea deal that collapsed before a federal judge in Delaware. In a stunning reversal, Hunter Biden was forced to plead not guilty and sat for a trial this year. 

Before his trial for federal tax crimes, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty. 

President Biden’s pardon of his son came after months of vowing to the American people that he would not do so. 

But on Sunday, the president announced a blanket pardon that applies to any offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden "has committed or may have committed" from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024. 

"From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," Biden said. "There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."

Biden added, "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a president would come to this decision." 

President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, late Sunday evening, sparing him from being sentenced in a pair of separate court cases in which he was found guilty of illegally purchasing a gun and failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes — convictions the president claimed were politically motivated and a "miscarriage of justice."

A review of Hunter Biden’s yearslong legal saga, however, shows another story, and those involved in the prosecutions are making sure that side of the story is told in the aftermath of the president's decision. 

"There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case," special prosecutor David Weiss said in a court filing following the pardoning. 

Two IRS whistleblowers who sounded the alarm on Hunter Biden's tax issues also slammed the decision to pardon Hunter Biden, saying, "No amount of lies or spin can hide the simple truth that the Justice Department nearly let the President's son off the hook for multiple felonies."

"President Biden has the power to put his thumb on the scales of justice for his son, but at least he had to do it with a pardon explicitly for all the world to see rather than his political appointees doing it secretly behind the scenes. Either way it is a sad day for law abiding taxpayers to witness this special privilege for the powerful," IRS whistleblowers Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joe Ziegler said in a statement Sunday evening. 

2 TIMES BIDEN SAID HE WOULD NOT PARDON SON HUNTER BIDEN 

"No amount of lies or spin can hide the simple truth that the Justice Department nearly let the President's son off the hook for multiple felonies. We did our duty, told the truth, and followed the law. Anyone reading the President's excuses now should remember that Hunter Biden admitted to his tax crimes in federal court, that Hunter Biden's attorneys have targeted us for our lawful whistleblower disclosures, and that we are suing one of those attorneys for smearing us with false accusations," they continued, referring to their $20 million defamation lawsuit against Hunter Biden’s high-profile attorney Abbe Lowell in September for claiming the IRS investigators illegally leaked Hunter Biden’s private tax information.

The guilty plea, guilty verdict and the president’s pardoning caps off a yearslong legal saga for the first son and his family, with the cases stretching back to 2018 and notably featured the IRS whistleblowers who sounded the alarm on Hunter Biden’s tax issues. 

Hunter Biden was found guilty in the gun case in June, with a jury of his peers determining he made a false statement in the purchase of a gun, made a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. 

He has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things," which walked readers through his previous need to smoke crack cocaine every 20 minutes, how his addiction was so prolific that he referred to himself as a "crack daddy" to drug dealers, and anecdotes revolving around drug deals, such as a Washington, D.C., crack dealer Biden nicknamed "Bicycles."

In the tax case, Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court in September, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea. 

TRUMP PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED BIDEN WOULD PARDON SON HUNTER

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

The tax case investigation originally kicked off in 2018, when the U.S. attorney in Delaware opened a probe into Hunter Biden’s finances. The first son initially notified the public that he was under investigation one month after his dad won the presidential election over President-elect Donald Trump in 2020. 

​​"I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs," Hunter Biden said in a statement released in December of 2020. "I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers."

After President Biden took control of the Oval Office, his administration retained David Weiss, a Trump-appointed Republican charged with overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden in his capacity as U.S. attorney for Delaware. The Biden administration had gutted all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys under the Trump administration, except for two individuals: Weiss, and Special Counsel John Durham, who investigated the origins of the Russia probe surrounding the 2016 election. 

KJP SAYS PRESIDENT BIDEN STILL HAS NO PLANS TO PARDON HUNTER BIDEN FOR TAX FRAUD, GUN CHARGES

Last year, Hunter Biden was in the midst of hashing out a plea agreement to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, as well as a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate felony charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. The plea agreement unraveled in Delaware court, however, and heightened his legal woes. 

Weeks later, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel, broadening the scope of the investigation into Hunter Biden. With the plea deal officially at an impasse, Weiss subsequently charged Hunter Biden in September of last year for the gun charges, and brought forth the nine tax-related charges against Hunter Biden in December of 2023 in California court. 

"The appointment of Mr. Weiss reinforces for the American people the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters," Garland said in the announcement of Weiss as special prosecutor. "I am confident that Mr. Weiss will carry out his responsibility in an evenhanded and urgent manner and in accordance with the highest traditions of this department."

Simultaneous to the investigations into Hunter Biden’s tax dealings and gun purchase scrutiny, IRS whistleblowers sounded the alarm that they gathered evidence Hunter Biden had allegedly committed "felony and misdemeanor tax charges." The whistleblowers were identified as IRS Special Agent Joseph Ziegler and his supervisor Gary Shapley. 

HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN GUN TRIAL

The whistleblowers told Congress last year that prosecutorial decisions made throughout the federal investigation into the president’s son were allegedly impacted by politics, claiming the Justice Department and IRS handled its probe of Hunter Biden’s finances with kid gloves. 

Ziegler said he felt the investigation into Hunter Biden was "handcuffed" and that the DOJ and Weiss slow-walked the investigation, while underscoring that he is a Democrat and worked to remove any personal political bias. 

"I'm a Democrat. In the last presidential election, I actually did not vote," Ziegler told CBS News last year. "I thought it would be irresponsible of me to do so because I didn't wanna show bias one way or the other."

The whistleblowers said the tax discrepancies stretched back to 2014 and related to Hunter Biden’s employment with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas firm. Fox Digital first reported in 2020 that Hunter Biden did not report "approximately $400,000" in income he collected from his position on the board of Burisma Holdings when he joined in 2014. 

Weiss' charges against Hunter Biden ultimately only focused on his failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2020. However, the president's pardon of his son shields him from prosecution for offenses between 2014 and 2024. 

After the whistleblowers' attorney sent a letter to lawmakers in April of last year indicating they wished to "make a protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress" over claims the Biden admin was allegedly mishandling the matter, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the FBI to turn over materials related to a "criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national."

JOE BIDEN MET WITH AT LEAST 14 OF HUNTER’S BUSINESS ASSOCIATES WHILE VICE PRESIDENT

Comer did ultimately receive documents related to President Biden’s alleged "criminal scheme," known as the FD-1023 document, but slammed the materials as essentially useless as they were reportedly overwhelmingly redacted. 

Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee interviewed the IRS whistleblowers and released transcripts of their interviews last year showing claims the Biden administration slow-walked the investigation and claiming the DOJ refused to appoint Weiss special counsel status. The DOJ denied the claims. 

Shapley claimed the agency obtained a message from WhatsApp dated July 30, 2017, from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, where the president's son allegedly threatened his business associate by leveraging his father’s political clout.

"I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight," Hunter Biden allegedly wrote. The message was sent after Biden’s term as vice president under the Obama administration, and before he was elected president in 2020.  

"And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction," the message continues. "I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father."

HUNTER BIDEN FACES NEW INDICTMENT IN CALIFORNIA

The White House has repeatedly denied the president had any business dealings with his son. 

As the investigations and whistleblower claims mounted, House Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry into Biden, with the House Oversight Committee, House Judiciary Committee and House Ways and Means Committee releasing a lengthy report in August that Biden engaged in "impeachable conduct" and "defrauded the United States to enrich his family." 

Republicans said there was "overwhelming evidence" that Biden participated in a "conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family" to the tune of more than $27 million from foreign individuals or entities since 2014.

The inquiry has fizzled in recent months, as the presidential election took center stage on the national level. 

Biden declared in his statement Sunday evening that the prosecution of Hunter was a "miscarriage of justice," apparently bolstering his reasoning for the pardon after he said at least twice he would not pardon his son. 

"From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," Biden said in his statement announcing the pardon. 

"It is clear that Hunter was treated differently. The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases," he continued. 

"I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision." 

Similar to his dad, Hunter Biden released a statement Sunday arguing the investigations and prosecutions were politically motivated.  

​​"I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction — mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport," Hunter Biden said in a statement to Fox News. "Despite all of this, I have maintained my sobriety for more than five years because of my deep faith and the unwavering love and support of my family and friends."

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Weiss's office for comment, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman, Greg Wehner, and Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

The White House today defended President Biden's declaration in May that "no one is above the law" amid criticism of his sweeping pardon Sunday evening for son Hunter Biden following a yearslong legal saga revolving around two criminal cases. 

"Yes," a White House official told Fox News Digital on Monday when asked if Biden still believes "no one is above the law" after pardoning his son. "As he said in his statement, he has deep respect for our justice system. And as a wide range of legal experts have pointed out, this pardon is indisputably within his authority and warranted by the facts of the case."

Biden posted a message to X back on May 31, one day after President-elect Donald Trump was found guilty in the Manhattan criminal trial in May, that "No one is above the law." 

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

Following his pardon of Hunter Biden from a gun case and a tax case, conservatives and others resurrected the post on social media, with Reps. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Eli Crane, R-Ariz., for example, quipping that the rule of law applies to all Americans, "Unless your last name is Biden."

REPUBLICANS HAMMER BIDEN'S 'NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW' CLAIM FOLLOWING HUNTER PARDON: 'AGED LIKE FINE MILK'

"You've been lied to every step of the way by this Administration and the corrupt Biden family. This is just the latest in their long coverup scheme. They never play by the same rules they force on everyone else. Disgraceful," Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., declared in response to the old Biden post.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, posted, "This aged like fine milk."

Biden's May message that "no one is above the law" came as his son was preparing for his first criminal trial in Delaware, where he was accused of illegally purchasing a firearm. He was also facing another trial regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. 

LAWMAKERS HARSHLY CRITICIZE BIDEN'S DECISION TO PARDON HUNTER: ‘LIAR’

Biden was found guilty on June 11 of lying about his drug use when purchasing a firearm in 2018. He was found guilty on three charges: making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. Hunter Biden had an extensive and well-documented history with addiction, which was best captured in his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things," which walked readers through his spirals with crack cocaine use. 

Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes in a California court in September. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea. 

Earlier this year, President Biden had publicly pledged at least twice that he would not pardon his son over the charges. 

"Yes," President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case. 

TRUMP ASKS ABOUT ‘J-6 HOSTAGES’ IN RESPONSE TO BIDEN'S PARDON OF HUNTER: ‘SUCH AN ABUSE’

Days later, following a jury finding Hunter guilty in the firearm case, the president again said he would not pardon his son. 

"I am not going to do anything," Biden said after Hunter was convicted. "I will abide by the jury’s decision."

While conservatives lambasted Biden for pardoning his son after vowing he would not take that step, some attorneys came to Biden's defense over the pardon, including Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder. 

Biden wrote in his statement announcing the pardon that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated.

"It is clear that Hunter was treated differently," Biden wrote in his statement. 

"The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases."

"For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision," the president added. 

Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report. 

Legal and political analysts are characterizing President Biden's stunning "full and unconditional pardon" of his son Hunter as an early holiday gift for President-elect Trump.

"He's essentially endorsing Trump's long-held opinion that the Department of Justice is politicized and isn't acting impartially," longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams said of the move by Biden.

In absolving his son ahead of twin sentencings on separate gun and tax convictions later this month, the president argued that the Justice Department's handling of the cases against Hunter Biden was politicized.

DID TRUMP PREDICT BIDEN PARDON OF HIS SON HUNTER?

Biden said in a statement Sunday night that his son, who is a recovering addict, was "treated differently" because of who his father is.

"No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong," the president said in the statement. "There has been an effort to break Hunter — who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me — and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."

TRUMP STATEMENT ON BIDEN'S MOVE TO PARDON HIS SON

Biden, in his statement, appeared to be pointing to the way the case was handled by David Weiss. He is the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney from Delaware who originally investigated Hunter Biden and was later appointed as a special counsel during the Biden administration by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

While an impeachment inquiry by House Republicans that looked into the president and his son's business relationships fizzled, Trump, during the presidential campaign, hinted at continuing to investigate the younger Biden in his second term in the White House.

However, Trump will not be able to undo the pardon when he takes office. Additionally, the pardon's sweeping nature means the next Trump Justice Department would not be able to reopen the criminal probe against Hunter Biden.

However, Trump gains something arguably more valuable - political cover.

Trump was heavily criticized during his first term for using pardons to protect political aides and allies - including longtime fixer Roger Stone and 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort - and relatives, including his daughter's father-in-law, whom the president-elect named as his second term ambassador to France. 

Biden's pardon of his son now gives Trump a powerful rebuttal.

"Biden has endorsed this idea that the Department of Justice acts in a political way, and he's thrown out long-held precedent when it comes to pardons," Williams told Fox News.  "He's blowing up an institution and procedures, which is what Democrats have long criticized Trump for. They don't have any moral authority to say that Trump is undermining institutions and changing long-held procedures. That's what Joe Biden just did with this pardon."

The president-elect will be under pressure as he takes office next month to pardon many of those convicted of crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of Biden's 2020 election victory. Many of those convicted are still in prison.

HUNTER BIDEN SAYS HIS MISTAKES WERE EXPLOITED BY REPUBLICANS

Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn said that "Joe Biden has lowered the bar so much here in offering this pardon to Hunter Biden, that I think Donald Trump will be able to pardon a whole host of people including Jan. 6 [defendants]."

Trump, in a statement following Biden's move, raised expectations that he should issue pardons for some of those Jan. 6 convicts.

"Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?" Trump wrote in a social media post Sunday night. "Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!"

Biden's pardon came 24 hours after Trump announced he would nominate loyalist Kash Patel as FBI director. Patel, a controversial pick, has long amplified Trump's unproven claims the 2020 election was stolen and long vowed to clean house at the FBI.

The move by Biden may help Trump as he works to push the nomination of Patel and Pam Bondi - a former Florida attorney general and another Trump loyalist who the president-elect named as his second pick for attorney general - through the Senate.

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a leading Trump ally in the Senate, argued in a social media post that "Democrats can spare us the lectures about the rule of law when, say, President Trump nominates Pam Bondi and Kash Patel to clean up this corruption."

The Hunter Biden pardon may convince some Republican senators who likely have reservations regarding the Patel and Bondi picks to now back Trump.

"I do think it makes it more likely that some of these more traditional Republican senators will be p****d off enough to help Trump confirm some of his more controversial nominees," a Republican who works on Capitol Hill told Fox News, as he noted that "it's the most sweeping pardon since Richard Nixon" a half a century ago.

President Biden had stated he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden multiple times before reversing course on Sunday, ultimately granting clemency to Hunter for all offenses against the United States he committed or may have committed from Jan. 1, 2024, to Dec. 1, 2024. 

On June 6, Biden said he would not pardon Hunter during an interview with ABC News anchor David Muir in Normandy, France, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. 

Regarding President-elect Trump’s conviction in the Manhattan "hush-money" trial, Biden told "MAGA Republicans" to "Stop undermining the rule of law. Stop undermining the institutions." 

Muir, noting Hunter was in the midst of a federal trial himself at the time, then asked Biden, "Will you accept the jury’s outcome no matter what it is?" 

"Yes," Biden said flatly.

REPUBLICANS HAMMER BIDEN'S 'NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW' CLAIM FOLLOWING HUNTER PARDON: 'AGED LIKE FINE MILK'

"Have you ruled out a pardon for your son?" Muir asked. 

Again, the president responded, "Yes."

About a week later, Biden told a news conference on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Italy that he would not use his presidential powers to lessen Hunter’s sentence. 

A sentencing date for Hunter’s conviction on federal gun charges had not been set at the time, though the three counts carried up to 25 years in prison. 

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated by Trump, would have made the decision. 

LAWMAKERS HARSHLY CRITICIZE BIDEN'S DECISION TO PARDON HUNTER: ‘LIAR’

"I’m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He is one of the brightest, most decent men I know," Biden said during the press conference on June 13. "I abide by the jury decision. I will do that, and I will not pardon him."

Biden, who will leave office on Jan. 20, on Sunday granted Hunter a "full and unconditional pardon" for 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." That includes, but is not limited to, those prosecuted by Special Counsel David Weiss. 

"The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election," Biden said in a statement. "Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases." 

 "There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution," he added. "In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here." 

Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison time fell apart under scrutiny by a judge. Under the original deal, Hunter was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and would have avoided prosecution in a gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years.

The plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. Hunter was subsequently indicted in the two cases.

Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs. He had been set to stand trial in September in a California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes, but he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

House Republicans also sought to use Hunter's history of overseas business ventures in a since-abandoned attempt to impeach his father, who has long denied involvement in his son's dealings or benefiting from them in any way.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President-elect Trump reacted to President Biden's surprise decision to pardon his son Hunter on Sunday.

Biden's move to pardon – a decision he previously claimed he would not make – turned heads across the country. In a Truth Social post on Sunday night, Trump suggested that Biden should have pardoned Jan. 6 protesters.

"Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?" Trump wrote. "Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!"

The Trump transition team also reacted to the pardon for Hunter Biden.

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"The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system," Trump's incoming White House communications chief Steven Cheung said in a statement to Fox News.

"That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people."

Earlier on Sunday, Biden accused Republicans of unfair treatment and claimed Hunter was "treated differently" by prosecutors. Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony firearm offenses in a Delaware trial earlier this year, and then pleaded guilty to multiple felony tax offenses in September. 

"From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," the president's statement read.

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"Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form," he continued. "Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions."

Biden also evoked Hunter's battle with substance abuse and asked Americans to "understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."

"There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution," the president continued. "In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."

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Biden had previously denied any intent to pardon his son after Hunter was convicted earlier this year.

"I am not going to do anything," Biden said after the conviction. "I will abide by the jury’s decision."

Trump previously told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin that, if elected, he "wouldn't do anything that would be overt" regarding Hunter Biden's cases, calling the first son's legal woes "a sad situation."

"I'll bet you the father probably pardons him," the Republican remarked. "Let's see what happens. But he's a bad boy."

FIRST ON FOX: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham sent a letter to each of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a memo suggesting Hunter Biden's laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation. 

"In your letter, you claimed that the laptop story was ‘Russia trying to influence how Americans vote,’" Graham’s letter to former CIA directors Leon Panetta and Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence [DNI] James Clapper and 48 others said.

"I ask you to respond publicly to one simple question: if you knew then what you know now about the laptop, would you still have signed the October 19, 2020 letter?" 

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Graham, a Republican, has previously suggested yanking the security clearances of officials who signed the letter. 

Vice President-elect JD Vance pledged during the campaign that the incoming Trump administration would strip the clearances of all 51 signatories. 

Over the summer, Fox News Digital asked all 51 officials whether they regretted signing on to the now-debunked letter. 

"No," Obama-era DNI James Clapper responded. 

Mark Zaid, an attorney representing seven of the signatories, said it was "patriotic" for his clients to sign on to the letter. 

"There continues to be by many a calculated or woefully ignorant interpretation of the October 2020 letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials concerning Hunter Biden's laptop," Zaid said. 

Greg Treverton, a signatory who previously served as chair of the National Intelligence Council, defended the letter in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

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"This is very old news," Treverton said. "What we said was true. We were inferring from our experience, and it did look like a Russian operation. We didn't, and couldn't, of course, say it was a Russian operation. Enough said."

The now-infamous letter said their national security experience had made them "deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case."

"If we are right," they added, "this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."

Despite claims from former officials that the laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation, Fox News Digital reported that federal investigators with the Department of Justice knew in December 2019 that Hunter Biden’s laptop was "not manipulated in any way" and contained "reliable evidence." But they were "obstructed" from seeing all available information, according to an IRS whistleblower involved in the probe nearly a year before the former intelligence officials and President Joe Biden declared it was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The laptop was introduced into evidence in a Delaware courtroom last week by prosecutor Derek Hines and handed to FBI agent Erika Jensen, who had earlier explained how the FBI authenticated the laptop and extracted data. In Hunter Biden's gun trial, she testified about dozens of text messages, metadata, photos and short videos found on phones and iCloud accounts belonging to Hunter Biden.