【中美创新时报 2024 年 12 月 1 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）乔·拜登总统于周日晚上赦免了他的儿子亨特，使小拜登免于因联邦重罪枪支和税务定罪而可能被判入狱，并推翻了他过去的承诺，即不使用总统的特别权力为家人谋福利。美联社对此作了下述详细报道。
这位民主党总统此前曾表示，在儿子在特拉华州和加利福尼亚州的两起案件中被定罪后，他不会赦免儿子或减刑。就在几周前，亨特·拜登因涉枪案和税务指控认罪而准备接受惩罚，而距离当选总统唐纳德·特朗普重返白宫不到两个月。
这是小拜登漫长的法律生涯的终结，他在 2020 年 12 月公开披露自己正在接受联邦调查——就在他父亲 2020 年获胜一个月后——这也给老拜登的遗产蒙上了一层阴影。拜登曾一次又一次向美国人承诺，在特朗普第一任期后，他将恢复规范和对法治的尊重，但最终他利用自己的职位帮助儿子，违背了自己对美国人公开承诺不会这样做。
6 月，拜登断然排除了对儿子的赦免或减刑，在儿子面临特拉华州枪支案审判时，他告诉记者：“我遵守陪审团的决定。我会这样做，我不会赦免他。”
就在 11 月 8 日，也就是特朗普胜选几天后，白宫新闻秘书卡琳·让-皮埃尔 (Karine Jean-Pierre) 排除了对小拜登的赦免或宽大处理，她说：“我们被问过这个问题很多次了。我们的答案是，不。”
当亨特染上严重的毒瘾，使他的家庭生活陷入混乱，直到近年来才摆脱毒瘾时，老拜登公开支持他唯一活着的儿子。他的政治对手长期以来一直利用亨特·拜登的无数错误作为对付他父亲的政治棍棒：在一次听证会上，立法者展示了这位吸毒成瘾的总统儿子在一家破旧的酒店里的半裸照片。
众议院共和党人试图利用小拜登多年来可疑的海外商业活动来弹劾他的父亲，但弹劾行动后来被放弃了，而他的父亲长期以来一直否认参与儿子的交易或以任何方式从中获益。
拜登在周日晚间发表的声明中表示：“我相信司法系统，但在我与此斗争的过程中，我也认为赤裸裸的政治影响了这一进程，并导致了司法不公。”
“他的案件之所以受到指控，是因为我在国会的几位政治对手煽动他们攻击我并反对我当选，”拜登补充道。“任何理性的人只要看看亨特案件的事实，都会得出亨特被单挑出来只是因为他是我儿子的结论。”
“我希望美国人能理解为什么一位父亲和一位总统会做出这个决定，”拜登补充道，并声称他是在本周末做出这个决定的。总统与亨特及其家人在马萨诸塞州楠塔基特度过了感恩节假期，并定于周日晚些时候启程，这可能是他 2025 年 1 月 20 日卸任前最后一次出国旅行。
亨特·拜登于 6 月在特拉华州联邦法院因 2018 年购买枪支而被判三项重罪，检察官称，他在一份联邦表格上撒谎，声称自己没有非法使用或吸毒。
他定于 9 月在加州案件中受审，该案件指控他未能缴纳至少 140 万美元的税款。但在陪审团选拔开始数小时后，他出人意料地同意对轻罪和重罪指控认罪。
特朗普任命的特拉华州美国检察官大卫·韦斯负责谈判认罪协议，随后被司法部长梅里克·加兰德任命为特别顾问，以便在起诉总统儿子方面拥有更多自主权。
亨特·拜登表示，在枪支审判中曝光了他与可卡因成瘾斗争的淫秽细节后，他承认了这起案件的罪名，以避免家人遭受更多痛苦和尴尬。
税务指控最高可判处 17 年监禁，枪支指控最高可判处 25 年监禁，不过联邦量刑指南预计会要求更短的刑期，他有可能完全避免入狱。
亨特·拜登本应于本月在两起联邦案件中被判刑，这是特别检察官在与检察官达成认罪协议后提起的，该协议很可能使他免于入狱，但在法官的审查下失败了。根据最初的协议，亨特本应对轻罪税务犯罪认罪，只要他两年内不惹麻烦，他就可以避免在枪支案中受到起诉。
但去年，当法官对协议中不寻常的方面提出担忧时，认罪听证会很快就破裂了。他随后因这两起案件被起诉。
这项全面赦免不仅涵盖这些罪行，还包括“他在 2014 年 1 月 1 日至 2024 年 12 月 1 日期间犯下或可能犯下或参与的任何其他针对美国的罪行”。
亨特·拜登的法律团队本周末发布了一份长达 52 页的白皮书，题为“亨特·拜登的政治起诉”，将总统的儿子描述为“攻击和伤害他父亲的代理人，无论是在 2020 年担任候选人时，还是后来担任总统时。”亨特·拜登的律师长期以来一直辩称，在特朗普和其他共和党人对他们所谓的“甜心”认罪协议的严厉批评下，检察官屈服于政治压力起诉总统的儿子。
众议员詹姆斯·科默是领导国会对拜登家族进行调查的共和党主席之一，他严厉批评总统赦免他儿子的决定，称针对亨特的证据“只是冰山一角”。
科默在 X（前身为 Twitter）网站上表示：“不幸的是，拜登总统及其家人非但没有坦白自己数十年的不法行为，反而继续竭尽所能逃避责任。”
拜登并不是第一位利用赦免权让亲信受益的总统。
在任期的最后几周，特朗普赦免了女婿贾里德·库什纳的父亲查尔斯·库什纳，以及在特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒的俄罗斯调查中被定罪的多名盟友。特朗普上周末宣布，计划在下一届政府中提名老库什纳担任美国驻法国特使。
特朗普的发言人张志伟在一份声明中表示：“必须修复司法系统，恢复所有美国人的正当程序，这正是特朗普总统在以美国人民的压倒性授权重返白宫后将要做的事情。”特朗普因试图破坏 2020 年总统大选而被起诉，他承诺将彻底改革司法部并安插忠诚的支持者。张志伟在一份声明中表示：“必须修复司法系统，恢复所有美国人的正当程序，这正是特朗普总统在以美国人民的压倒性授权重返白宫后将要做的事情。”
亨特·拜登在一封电子邮件声明中表示，他永远不会将给予他的救济视为理所当然，并发誓要将他重建的生活奉献给“帮助那些仍然生病和受苦的人”。
小拜登说：“我承认并承担了我在毒瘾最黑暗的日子里犯下的错误——这些错误被用来公开羞辱我和我的家人，以进行政治游戏。”
亨特·拜登的法律团队于周日晚上在洛杉矶和特拉华州提起诉讼，要求处理他的枪支和税务案件的法官立即驳回这些案件，理由是特赦。
韦斯的发言人周日晚上没有回应寻求评论的消息。
美联社驻马萨诸塞州楠塔基特记者乔什·博克对本报道亦有贡献。
题图：2024 年 11 月 29 日星期五，拜登总统在儿子亨特·拜登和孙子博的陪同下离开马萨诸塞州楠塔基特市中心的一家书店。Jose Luis Magana/美联社
附原英文报道：
Biden pardons his son Hunter on gun, tax charges, despite previous promises that he would not do so
By The Associated PressUpdated December 1, 2024
President Biden accompanied by his son Hunter Biden and his grandson Beau leave a book store as they walk in downtown Nantucket Mass., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024.Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.
The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.
It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Biden’s legacy. Biden, who time and again pledged to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Trump’s first term in office, ultimately used his position to help his son, breaking his public pledge to Americans that he would do no such thing.
In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”
As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”
The elder Biden has publicly stood by his only living son as Hunter descended into serious drug addiction and threw his family life into turmoil, before pulling himself out in recent years. His political rivals have long used Hunter Biden’s myriad mistakes as a political cudgel against his father: in one hearing, lawmakers displayed half-naked photos of the drug addled president’s son in a seedy hotel.
And House Republicans sought to use the younger Biden’s years of questionable overseas business ventures in a since-abandoned attempt to impeach his father, who has long denied involvement in his son’s dealings or benefiting from them in any way.
In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden added. “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.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family, and was set to depart later Sunday on what may be his last foreign trip as president before leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.
David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware who negotiated the plea deal, was subsequently named a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to have more autonomy over the prosecution of the president’s son.
Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.
The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.
Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in the two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison time fell apart under scrutiny by a judge. Under the original deal, Hunter was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and and would have avoided prosecution in the gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years.
But the plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. He was subsequently indicted in the two cases.
The sweeping pardon covers not just those offenses, but also any other “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
Hunter Biden’s legal team this weekend released a 52-page white paper titled “The political prosecutions of Hunter Biden,” describing the president’s son as a “surrogate to attack and injure his father, both as a candidate in 2020 and later as president.” Hunter Biden’s lawyers have long argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to indict the president’s son amid heavy criticism by Trump and other Republicans of what they called the “sweetheart” plea deal.
Rep. James Comer, one of the Republican chairmen leading congressional investigations into Biden’s family, blasted the president’s decision to issue his son a pardon, saying that the evidence against Hunter was “just the tip of the iceberg.”
“It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability,” Comer said on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.
Biden is hardly the first president to deploy his pardon powers to benefit those close to him.
In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Trump over the weekend announced plans to nominate the elder Kushner to be the U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, who has pledged to dramatically overhaul and install loyalists across the Justice Department after he was prosecuted for his role in trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election, said in a statement, “That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.”
Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”
“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Biden said.
Hunter Biden’s legal team filed Sunday night in both Los Angeles and Delaware asking the judges handling his gun and tax cases to immediately dismiss them, citing the pardon.
A spokesperson for Weiss did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.
Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Nantucket, Massachusetts contributed to this report.
