First lady Jill Biden may have persuaded President Biden to pardon her disgraced son Hunter Biden, according to reports.
“There was clearly pressure within the family,” Jeff Zeleny, CNN's chief national affairs correspondent, said in an appearance Monday.
“We've been told in recent weeks that Dr. Jill Biden (First Lady Jill Biden) is very supportive of the president doing something like this,” he added.
Zeleny claimed that Biden, 82, was “not sure” about the pardon and suggested that the push from the 73-year-old first lady may have been a deciding factor.
“Of course I support pardoning my son,” Jill Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday.
Jill is widely regarded as one of the most influential first ladies of the past 100 years.
Throughout her husband's presidential term, Jill gained a reputation for tightly controlling access to her husband and taking aggressive steps to protect Joe from the press, thereby overshadowing the president's apparent mental decline. This led to accusations that he was trying to hide it from the public.
Jill had a troubled relationship with her troubled son-in-law, even though she was reportedly a major influence on Biden's decision to pardon Hunter.
Hunter, 54, called his stepmother an “entitled ct” and “a vengeful idiot” in text messages found on his infamous laptop.
The eldest son pleaded guilty in September to nine charges related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes, and in June was charged with possessing a firearm while under the influence of illegal drugs and convicted on three federal gun charges. received.
Mr. Hunter was scheduled to be sentenced on December 12th in the firearms case and December 16th in the tax case, but thanks to his father's sudden arrival before he left office, he had no need to go to court to seek a guilty verdict. disappears.
The president said he granted the pardon because he felt Hunter was being “selectively and unfairly prosecuted.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the Post's request for comment.
