Hunter Biden said in a BBC Newsnight interview broadcast August 7 that he understands why his father’s decision to pardon him was criticized, calling himself “the most privileged person there is.”
Joe Biden pardoned his son in December 2024, covering federal convictions tied to gun purchases and tax charges. In the new interview, Hunter Biden said the pardon was not good for America, for the Constitution, or for his father’s legacy, even as he defended the decision on personal terms.
He told the BBC that his father acted out of concern Hunter would become a target under the incoming Trump administration, and said the two had never discussed the possibility of a pardon before it was granted. “What would you have thought of my dad if he did not do that for me,” he said, adding that the criticism was “easily criticised, and for good reason.”
The interview covered more than the pardon. Hunter Biden said his father’s cancer, first disclosed publicly last year, has spread and described the situation as painful for the family. He ruled out ever running for elected office himself and spoke about his own recovery from addiction and the work he has done since to help others going through similar struggles.
The pardon remains one of the more scrutinized decisions of Joe Biden’s presidency, drawn on by critics as an example of a president using clemency power for a family member after previously saying he would not. Hunter Biden’s comments mark one of his most direct public acknowledgments yet that the move carried a real political cost, separate from what it meant for him personally.
Neither Joe Biden’s office nor the White House has issued a new statement in response to the interview as of publication.
The underlying case dates back to 2018, when Hunter Biden bought a handgun while, prosecutors said, he was a regular user of crack cocaine and lied about it on a federal purchase form. He was also convicted on tax charges tied to failing to pay roughly 1.4 million dollars over several years. He pleaded guilty to the tax charges in September 2024, months before his father issued the pardon that December.
