Jill Biden on Hunter pardon: “We just could not let our son go to jail”

Jill Biden said she supported Joe Biden’s decision to pardon their son, Hunter, because they couldn’t let him go to jail under President Trump. 

Joe Biden had repeatedly pledged not to pardon his son, but reversed course at the end of his presidency. 

“And then the Justice Department changed. And I think that the process was not fair to Hunter,” Jill Biden told CBS News Sunday Morning’s Rita Braver in an interview airing Sunday on CBS. “When Trump was elected, things changed, and we knew that he would target Hunter. 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.”

Joe Biden repeatedly said he wouldn’t pardon his son, who was convicted in June 2024 of three separate felony charges related to his purchase of a revolver in 2018 when he was battling a drug addiction, which he lied about on paperwork to obtain the gun. Hunter Biden also pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges in a separate case in September 2024.

The elder Biden’s decision to pardon his son drew bipartisan criticism.

When asked by Braver if she urged her husband to pardon Hunter Biden, Jill Biden said: “I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe.”

Asked why Biden also preemptively pardoned several other family members before he left office, Jill Biden said: “I suppose for the same reason that he felt that they would be targeted.” 

Jill Biden talked to Braver about the election, her husband’s 2024 debate performance, and her new book, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir.” 

Watch more of Jill Biden’s interview on “Sunday Morning” on May 31 at 9 a.m. on CBS stations and streaming on Paramount+.