Jill Biden used a CBS Sunday Morning interview to defend President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter Biden after saying he would not, arguing that the legal process was “not fair to hunter” and warning that a Trump return to office would mean Hunter would
When Jill Biden sat down with CBS Sunday Mornings correspondent Rita Braver for a major sit-down interview on Sunday, the conversation quickly landed on the moment that still dogged her husband in the final stretch of his presidency: the pardon of Hunter Biden.
Braver pointed to what Joe Biden had said before, asking a direct question about the break in the promise. Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges in 2024. including possession of a firearm by an unlawful owner or someone who is addicted to a controlled substance. Braver then pressed: President Biden had said he would never pardon his son. and then he pardoned him—did Jill Biden urge him to think again?.
Jill Biden acknowledged that her husband had said, “I won’t pardon Hunter.” But she framed it as something that changed when circumstances and institutions did. In her telling, the “justice department changed, and the process was not fair to hunter.”
She said the political shift mattered too. “When Trump was elected. things changed. ” Jill Biden continued. adding that they knew President Donald Trump would “target” Hunter Biden once he returned to the White House. “And we just could not let our son go to jail on a charge that no one would go — I mean. no one has ever gone to jail for.”.
Braver asked whether Jill Biden “urged” the president to pardon Hunter Biden. Jill Biden didn’t answer that directly, but she offered clarity on where she stood at the time. “Oh gosh, I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe.”
That agreement came to a head in the last month of Joe Biden’s term. Biden issued a full and unconditional pardon to Hunter Biden for any offenses he “committed or may have committed” between January 1. 2014 and December 1. 2024. Over that same span, Hunter Biden was also convicted on nine federal tax charges.
The interview then turned to the broader scope of the final-day actions. Braver asked why Joe Biden also opted to “preemptively pardon” other members of his family on his way out of office. Jill Biden said she supposed for the same reason—because Joe Biden worried Trump would “target” his family.
Outside the pardon question, Jill Biden also offered striking reflections on the campaign year that preceded it. She said she was “frightened” by her husband’s disastrous 2024 debate against Trump, and told CBS she believed her husband had a stroke on stage.
All of it unfolded in one concentrated stretch of Sunday morning airtime: a promise that didn’t hold. a pardon that did. and a defense built around a conviction that the legal and political climate had shifted against Hunter Biden—fast enough that. in Jill Biden’s view. the justice system couldn’t be trusted to reach a fair result.
Jill Biden Joe Biden Hunter Biden pardon CBS Sunday Morning Rita Braver Trump gun charges 2024 federal tax charges U.S. politics
So she’s just saying laws don’t matter now??
I mean CBS really let her dodge it. She said it wasn’t fair but also “process” and “institutions” changed… sounds like excuses. Hunter still got convicted right?
Wait, the article got me confused—did they pardon him because he “wouldn’t go to jail” or because the law changed? And why are we even talking about Trump “targeting” him like it’s already guaranteed? Feels like everyone’s just rewriting the story mid-sentence.
Flip-flop?? More like politicians doing political things. She keeps saying “not fair to hunter” but he literally had gun charges in 2024, like that part matters. Also the whole “Trump elected things changed” line… okay so the pardon was basically preemptive because they expected the other guy to prosecute? Idk maybe that’s normal now, but it feels gross. CBS interview prob cut out the good part of the question anyway.