Former first lady Jill Biden defended Joe Biden’s controversial decision to pardon their son, arguing he ultimately felt boxed in by the political climate—specifically, the return of Donald Trump to power, according to Mediaite. In a CBS Sunday Morning interview, she suggested the former president believed Hunter Biden would become a target under a second Trump administration. “When Trump was elected, things changed,” she said, adding that the family feared selective prosecution. “We knew that he would target Hunter.”
Hunter Biden had been convicted in 2024 on three felony gun charges, including illegal firearm possession tied to drug use. CBS correspondent Rita Braver noted that Joe Biden had previously vowed he would never issue such a pardon and asked whether Jill Biden had pushed him to reconsider.
While she acknowledged that her husband had once said, “I won’t pardon Hunter,” she argued the legal landscape shifted. According to her, “the justice department changed,” and the process became unfair. Critics might note that Jill’s justification underscored the unique protections available to those at the highest levels of power, but not ordinary citizens with no presidential connections.
Pressed on whether she personally urged the president to act, Jill Biden sidestepped a direct answer but made clear where she stood. “I truly supported it,” she said. “I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe.”
In the final month of his presidency, Joe Biden granted Hunter a sweeping pardon covering any potential offenses between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024—a period that also included nine federal tax convictions.
Jill Biden also addressed her husband’s decision to extend preemptive pardons to other family members before leaving office. She suggested the same underlying concern applied: fear that Trump would go after them as well.
Elsewhere in the interview, she reflected on Biden’s troubled 2024 debate performance against Trump, admitting she found it alarming and even thought her husband may have suffered a medical episode on stage.
