WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, despite previously promising he would not do so, reported German news agency (dpa).
The president's 54-year-old son had pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in a second trial after being found guilty of charges relating to gun possession and drug use.
The sentences were to be announced later in December.
The US president said that, while he had promised he wouldn't interfere with decisions by the Department of Justice, "It is clear that Hunter was treated differently".
"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 older Biden said in a statement released by the White House. - BERNAMA-XINHUA