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president biden issued a pardon for his son hunter, who was found guilty to gun charges in delaware and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in california. president biden has said repeatedly he would not use his presidential authority to pardon his son or commute his sentence. the president changed his mind over the holiday weekend. a short while ago, president biden put out a defiant statement that said, in part, 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. there has been an effort to break hunter, who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective. in trying to break hunter, they have tried to break me. and there's no reason to believe it will stop here. enough is enough. and moments ago, hunter biden

issued a statement of his ob. >> i have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction. mistakes that have been imloited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport. despite all all of this, i have maintained my sobrealt with my deep faith. he continued, in the throes of addiction, i squandered many opportunities and advantages. in recovery, we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded. i will never take the clemency i have been given today for granted and will devote the life i have rebuilt to help -- to helping those who are still sick and suffering. the pardon comes ahead of hunter biden's december 12th conviction for federal gun charges.

hunter biden is also set to be sentenced in a separate criminal case. that one on december 16th, after pleading guilty on federal tax evasion charges. joining me now is mike memoli. mike, thank you very much for being here on this breaking news coverage. can you bring us up to speed here? how and when did this change come about? >> it's an important question. so much of the reaction we're seeing indicates that this is the president, lying or misrepresenting what he said on the past. i think it's very clear to the circumstances involved. and one of the most important dynamics was the next president trump as the president of the united states. we have been reporting about the possibility of this pardon for sometime. and this decision ultimately was one that was held to as

close as it could possibly invest. and was held as an ongoing conversation over the last couple of weeks. jonathan, i travel the with the president to and from nantucket, marked the thanksgiving holiday, which has been sort of a rather sacred family tradition over the last five decades, since the death of his first wife and infant daughter, when he would begin taking bo and hunter over the holidays. over the years, this has gained into a large family gathering. polar plunge, times spent playing games as a family. this year, i was struck, as i was in nantucket and flying back with the president last night, that it was a much more intimate affair. it was just the president, the first lady, hunter biden, his wife melissa, their little boy bo, and ashley biden, the president's daughter. it was very clear that the president and his son had an

extended period of time, one another, to talk about, to continue what has been an ongoing conversation about what is the right thing to do? there are a lot of considerations about the political consequences. there is certainly great thought and care about the legal consequences, potential precedent what the president was doing here. but ultimately, you know president biden so well. i've covered him now for 17 years. everything comes down to family for this president. and this was something that ultimately, they -- that's decided, one another was in the best interest personally for hunter biden. and i think as the president is now just 50 days -- 51 days from handing off the white house to president-elect donald trump, this is certainly going to be one of the most significant acts he takes, as a father, obviously, as a president as well. >> right. i'm sitting here, thinking, mike, about the fact that, you know, president biden is one of -- maybe one of the last

institutionalists there is here in washington. so this is a monumental decision, no matter who he's granted this pardon to for the president. mike, let me ask you one more question. how concerned do you think the biden family is, about prosecution from the incoming trump justice department? and i ask that question because the now president-elect made no secret when he was a candidate for president, that he was going to turn the justice department into a weapon against his political opponents, naming specifically, the clintons, and the bidens? >> yeah. certainly, this has been, i think, a concern of the biden team about what this now means, in terms of what the next administration might do. i thought it was notable, what we have seen so far, in terms of reaction from the trump team. the president-elect's spokesperson, issuing -- i find, a really fascinating

statement, in which he sort of sidesteps the question, that you -- let's just put it this way, jonathan. we're not seeing the kind of hyperbolic rhetoric from the trump team that we have seen from house committee chairman, like james froman, for instance. i'll read this statement from the trump spokesperson. the failed witch hunt having proven that doj and other radicals are guilty of weaponizing the justice system. it must be fixed and due process restored for all of americans, which is exactly what president trump will do as we returns to the white house. that statement indicates that this is not the kind of knee- jerk criticism you might expect from the incoming president. in fact, the president-elect issued a statement saying he might even consider pardoning hunter biden himself. >> mike memoli, thank you very much for that report. and joining me now is dave

aronberg, state attorney for palm beach county, florida. dave, thank you for joining me this evening. just give me your initial reaction to president biden pardoning his son hunter. >> jonathan, i'm not surprised. i thought it would be a little closer to when biden left the white house. but the writing was on the wall, when he received a 52- page report that set out pretty specifically why this prosecution against hunter biden was unique. why it was selective prosecution, why it was targeted because his name is hunter biden. the bottom line here is that i doubt these charges would have ever been brought against a guy named hunter smith. it was because he's the son of the president. >> so the criticism coming at the president, president biden right now, particularly from some -- from some on the right. some saying that the president

lied, because the president did say. president biden said many times, over the last year, particularly during the campaign, that he would not pardon his -- pardon his son. can you talk to me? should the president be fearful of? and should democrats be fearful of, do you think, of political blowback as a result of the president's decision here. >> yes. you know in politics. you can never lie if you're a democrat. now, the other guys. go ahead. you know, let's not pretend we're living in the pretrump political world. i know that joe biden is an institutionalist. but you're dealing with the current president-elect, someone who continues to lie about the 2020 election and still thinks he won california. i get it why people think he's going to be upset with president biden. but when he said he might

pardon hunter biden, they didn't expect kash patel. they are protecting his son from the wolfs on the other side. do you want to leave hunter biden to them? he said, you know what? the other guy pardoned his daughter's fault, and not only pardoned but made him ambassador. the other guy pardoned steve bannon. so yes, if you want to call me out for pardoning my own son who was the victim of selective processing, do so. he's just about out of caring right now. >> right. one of the things, i think you just mentioned it. one of the knocks that trump and his supporters have against president biden is that he has weaponized the justice system. weaponized law enforcement, against donald trump.

ankesh midori. senior political adviser, wrote a piece about why he thought the president shouldn't pardon hunter, but should grant him some form of clemency. and he wrote this. he makes the same point you just made this. is not to excuse hunter biden's comment. but they have almost no real precedent. and the conduct underlying is usually resolved by the justice department to repayment and/or fines. he goes on to write the reason we are here is because successfully pressured joe biden's own precedent to prosecute his own son. >> i agree. i agree. merrick garland has been accused of weaponizing the department of justice. nothing could be further from the truth. merrick garland cared about being called out for being political. not only did he appoint a special prosecutor to investigate hunter biden.

he appointed a u.s. attorney under donald trump. then he let the prosecution happen. and if his name were not hunter biden, no -- it's so rare. it almost never happens, that someone is prosecuted for buying a gun while under the throes of addiction unless that gun was used in a crime. here it's a stand-alone crime. likewise, it is rare, when you're facing criminal charges, instead of just having to pay bax the taxes you owe, plus a fine, a penalty. so hunter biden was treated differently. and part of it was because merrick garland wanted to show the world that he was even- handed. in so doing so, he treated the president's the way no one else probably would have treated him. dave aronberg, palm beach county, florida. now, let's go to nbc news correspondent, carol lee. bring us up to swede speedon

this breaking story, about president biden pardoning his son hunter? >> reporter: yeah, we obviously learned about this being in the works for sometime, essentially, that the president had not taken off the table the idea of granting his son clemency. even though he has said for months that he would not take that step. however, this decision, the final decision, was made only this past weekend, according to our sources and the president, then after returning to washington, informed some of his closest aides today, and they went through to draft a statement and get things in order, the paperwork to make this happen, so that he could announce it tonight. and it's very intentional that they're coming before the sentencing. that's supposed to take place

december 12th. that's something the president, if he was planning to do this, which he was, would want to get ahead of. and look, it's already getting a lot of blowback from republicans who are saying that this is just more evidence of the, quote, biden crime family. and if the president is coming under a lot of criticism for it, however, according to our reporting, the president is not -- that does not outweigh the president's feelings about needing to pardon his son. he's 82 years old. he's in the final weeks of his presidency. he is not planning on running another election. he did not ultimately run for re-election last month. and this is a decision that is personal. and that he and his family decided was the right one to do. at the same time, the president is also blaming the justice system for the way that his son -- he said his view was

unfairly targeted. >> carol, let me get one more thing. you mentioned at the beginning of your report that this has been in the works for a while, and that granting this pardon, before the december 12th, and december 16th, sentencing was intentional. why not wait? does your reporting bear out why they decided not to wait until those two sentencing hearings? >> yeah. i think the idea was that this was -- it would be more -- almost as if it was going through the motion, that we're just ultimately not going to be necessary. and it would be another hearing that hunter biden would have to attend, and it's just not something that the -- from our understanding, based on our reporting that the president and his family felt like was worth going through the motions of. ultimately he was going to get to this place. >> nbc news correspondent, cara

lee, thank you very much, for coming on and giving us that report. stick with us for more continuing coverage right after this. right after this. customize and save with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. is limu with you in all your dreams? oh, yeah. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ when i was diagnosed with h-i-v, i didn't know who i would be. but here i am... ...being me. keep being you... ...and ask your healthcare provider about the number one prescribed h-i-v treatment, biktarvy.

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we're back with continuing coverageaf president biden issued a pardon for his son hunter biden. i'm joined now by carol lam, carol, thank you so much for being here. let me ask, is what president biden did today, in pardoning his son hunter unusual, given what hunter biden pleaded guilty to? >> well, i think it's unusual, if you look at the history of what has happened, with respect to pardons, in terms of the timing, the closeness of the relationship here. although it's not unprecedented. there have been pardons of family members in the past. but what i think is happening here, to some extent, is is that president biden must be influenced to some extent, to the fact that the incoming

department of justice and under president-elect trump is going to be likely staffed in the upper positions by people who were on the defense team for donald trump. so this has become highly politicized and highly personal. and basically, by not pardoning his son is leaving a lot of unknowns out there. because of the sentencings that were occur in this month of hunter biden, that's not going to end all the prosecution of hunter biden, in the sense that both sides can appeal sentences and likely hunter biden would be appealing his conviction after trial in the gun case. so there are a lot of discretionary, subjective calls that have to be made in the future by what will be a future donald trump department of justice. and i think, to a large extent, president biden was not comfortable leaving that door open. >> and carol, for those of us who are not attorneys, and

those watching, who aren't attorneys, can the incoming trump justice department, overturn or reverse this pardon that president biden has given his son tonight? >> no. under the constitution, a presidential pardon is a final decision. there is no appeal, no overturning that decision. the pardon itself will be the pardon that remains in place, under the constraints that are put in the pardon. so for example, in this case, you said for any actions occurring between 2014 and the present. so that's not just with respect to these charges. but any potential federal charges that he could be investigated for that occurred between 2014 and 2024. so that is an irreversible decision that cannot be overturned by a future president. but it applies only to federal cases, not state cases. >> okay. i'm just being told that donald

trump has issued a statement on his social media platform. and the moment i get it in my hands, i will read some of it. carol, there's been some question about the timing of the president's decision. why do it now, as opposed to waiting until december 12th, in delaware, and december 16th in california, when hunter biden was to go there for hearings. what do you make of that line of questioning? >> that actually is a decision that doesn't surprise me at all. sentencings are hearings. they are public. they can often be messy. and i expect that since president biden did make the decision now, to pardon his son. it was just unnecessary to go through that sort of another news cycle, another debate, and let's just get it over with now. so that decision does not surprise me. >> all right, carol lam, thank you very much, for joining us

this evening. and giving us your insight in tonight's news that president biden has granted a pardon to his son hunter. let's go now to nbc news cbs investigative producer and editor sarah fitzpatrick, who also joins us. thank you for being with us this evening. you are one of two people on the big story. you and carol lee broke the story this evening that president biden would be pardoning his son hunter. bring us on the inside. when i spoke to carol earlier this hour, she said, you guys have been working on this for a long time. so how long have you been working on this? and take us through the winding road that got the president from the point of saying, no, i'm not going to pardon my son, to doing just that tonight? >> you're absolutely right. it has been a long and winding road. and i don't think anyone, including the president, knew exactly how this would transpire, up until today. we have been on the story, as

carol said, for many months. we learned from some of our sources that shortly after hunter biden was convicted in june on the gun charges, that there were discussions between the president and his aides about the possibility of pardoning his son. although he remained in public, stating that that option was off the table. he said that multiple times. the white house, even as early as this week, had indicated that there would be no pardon. but this was a long, kind of option that was hanging out there on the table. and i think it was something that was both incredibly personal, as a decision for the president to make, as a decision for hunter to make, to agree to. and i think it was a long time coming. and it had been a carefully, carefully guarded secret. not secret, but just a carefullee -- those discussions were so private. even including this weekend in

nantucket, when the family gathered, and our understanding is that the family was really just locked down, having very private discussions, not discussing with outside advisers or lawyers. it was a very personal decision, up until the very end. but i think there's a couple of i think ths things that played into this. one is obviously, the incoming trump administration, there was an element of real concern about what would happen to hunter biden. if special counsel remains in place, could additional charges be coming? we know that the special counsel's office has been continuing to take, kind of actions as they've continued to pursue other cases around hunter biden. and secondly, i think there was a real concern about hunter biden's safety, once he loses his presidential -- you know -- would giving this pardon, also potentially put a target on his back. and i think it was a really

carefully-weighed decision that ultimately, the president made today. >> and you may have just answered this in your response there, but i'm going to ask it again. how concerned do you think the president was about the fate of his son, with the incoming justice department of donald trump? especially considering, not just who his attorney general pick is, but the top three positions in doj, under the attorney general or his three personal attorneys in these cases? >> i think there was absolutely a high level of concern, about what this would look like, what the targeting of the biden family, not just hunter, but perhaps other individuals, the president and his allies have indicated that in the past. and in a justice department that would potentially be

losing some of those career attorneys, you know, some of those guardrails just might not be in place. so i think that was absolutely an element of concern. and that's why you see the wording of this pardon the way it is. it's up until today's date, which would, you know, eliminate any other potential charges that the special counsel had not brought up until this point. and i think that that was a real -- a real, legitimate concern for all parties involved. >> nbc's sarah fitzpatrick, thank you very much for that report. more on the breaking news after a quick break. a quick break. oh! right in the temporal lobe! beat it, punks! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪

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can neuriva support your brain health? mary. janet. hey! eddie. no! fraser. frank. frank. fred. how are you? support up to seven brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva. we're back with breaking news out of the white house, where just hours ago, president biden announced that he was pardoning his son hunter, who was found guilty of gun-related charges in delaware and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in california. earlier in the evening, the president released a statement, reading in part, there has been an effort to break hunter, who

has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. in trying to break hunter, they've tried to break me. and there is no reason to believe it will stop here. enough is enough. and just now, donald trump posted on his truth social account. quote, does the pardon given by joe to hunter include the j-6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? such an abuse and miscarriage of justice. nbc news correspondent mike memoli joins me now. mike, you were traveling with the president during this thanksgiving holiday weekend. was there any indication that this news was coming? >> reporter: well, jonathan, i think we all can now look back and interpret things differently that i saw over the course of the last four days in nantucket and even on air force one, coming back last night. i think the thing that stood

out to me, before this news came out, it struck me that the larger biden clan, as sometimes called, was not together in the way that they usually are at the thanksgiving holiday in nantucket. and i was given several explanations for why that might be. we know that naomi biden, the president's granddaughter, is due any week now. maybe that was one reason they weren't all there. or maybe they're planning for a larger christmas gathering as they mark one last christmas at the white house. and based on carol's and sarah's reporting, were pretty much closinged to the father ask son. they did have an extensive period of time together. i know because i saw little bo walking around the grounds, that hunter was likely still at the white house today. the president held an event to

mark world aids day. we're going to have our first visual of biden in the next hour. the president is scheduled to department the white house in this hour, to make his way to andrews air force base, to then fly to angola, where he's scheduled to be for the next several days. an important foreign overseas trip. so, reporters will certainly try to ask the president before he boards air force one, about this development. it will be interesting to see whether he takes those questions. but one thing, i think, is important, also here jonathan, as we look at both the legal and personal in this breaking news story. one is that the pardon language itself, is very important. and i think one they think that has been overlooked, this is not just a pardon for those two specific cases. the cases on gun charges nwhichs hunter was found guilty.

and the other tax-related charges in california, where ultimately, hunter biden pled guilty. the pardon is for any and all crimes committed. starting january 14 through december. a period that begins and includes just months before hunter biden joined the board of barisma. that ukrainian energy company. as the president was weighing the potential of a trump-led justice department, to potentially expand these investigations, into hunter biden, that covers what had been, we know, an area in which the u.s. attorney, in delaware, who ultimately, became a special counsel or earned that special counsel status. was investigating potential violations of foreign lobbying rules. that is significant, i think, on the legal front. and on the personal front, jonathan, that the sentencing

was scheduled in delaware, on december 12th. and california, december 16th. you know so well, that the holiday season is one of mixed emotions for the biden family. december 18th, is the anniversary of the accident that hunter himself was seriously injured in, in 1972. as just a 2-year-old boy. his mother was killed. his baby sister was also killed. and his brother bo was also seriously injured. that anniversary is a very sacred time within the biden family. and i think the confluence of the middle sentencing was emotional. emotional when we heard from the president and first lady at that event marking world a.i.d.s. day, when they talked about loved ones and the fact that the pain never goes away. >> mike memoli, thank you. we'll be right back. right bac. taste so fresh and amazing. deliciously superior nutrition, too. for us, it's eggs any style. as long as they're the best.

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joining me now with more on the breaking news, is former virginia congressman denver riggleman. i want to, because of your work on the january 6th select committee, i just want to read again, this posting from donald trump on his social media platform. he asks, does the pardon given by joe to hunter include the j- 6 hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? such an abuse and miscarriage of justice! congressman, your reaction to that? >> my goodness, that's a

ludicrous post, by an unserious man. and i think that's what we can seriously say about this. my guess is donald trump probably would have been pardoning hunter fhe was associated with russians, like mike flint and joe mane fort. with donald trump spewing that ridiculousness. we know what happened on january 6th, the data is there. i just think it is unbelievable that somebody would put something out like that. i think he's hit a low with his family. i think you see the ludicrousness of the committee, the subcommittee on weaponization. the oversight committee, how ridiculous they were also. again, you know, not only was i on the j-6 committee, i also did the forensics on hunter's laptop that went out to the web.

i got to see everything. i got to see forensics, see everything, do all the research on hunter's movements. and i have to say, i think this pardon is well done and needed to happen. >> reporter: what do you make of the contention among republicans out there, and others, who believe that the president made the wrong decision, and that the president lied when he said earlier this year, on multiple occasions, that he was not going to pardon his son? >> if i -- you know. actually, i thought about that when the pardon happened. conditions have changed. i think when you see from the president and his administration is the trump administration, with people like charles kushner. and you see how hunter was treated. i don't think he foresaw the weaponization that would happen on the tax case or the gun case.

i also think when you're looking at what is going on now in america, i think when you're looking at addiction and what is happening in families, i think after all the biden family has been through, especially when hunter's addiction was accelerated by bo's death. when you talk about everything his father has gone through and their family has gone through, i think it was appropriate. i think conditions change, and i think it is unbelievably hypocritical, and almost ludicrously laughable. when you have anybody talking about this. it's just the that they spew out. and they want to flood the zone with >> thank you for much for being here this evening, dennis riggleman. >> on with me now. anthony coley and jill wine- banks. and former general counsel of the army. okay. jill, let me start with you,

your reactions? or your reaction to president biden pardoning his son? >> i am relieverred and throughout thrilled that he did it. this is one of those cases called out for clemency. hunter biden, first of all, would never have been prosecuted for the gun crime but for his last name. second of all, he was addicted, and that was a cause of his actions. he has now been sober for many years. and this is a time when it is really appropriate for a grant of clemency. i hope that president biden will also issue preemptive pardons by all of the people threatened by the unjustice of what will become the department of justice in the trump administration. that, of course, includes jack smith and all of his staff, many of department of justice lawyers. it includes president biden himself. although we don't know that anyone can legally pardon

themselves. he will need a pardon, because he is going to be harassed and charged for no crimes whatsoever. donald trump has promised that. >> and to pick up on that. do you think that what played into the president's decision here is to protect his son from a trump -- incoming trump justice department that we see from the appointments that he is -- the people he's named? these are all -- i'm thinking of the top three, under the ag, all criminal attorneys in the cases. who is to say, they wouldn't go after hunter? >> jonathan, you have hit the nail on the head. i think right here, if you said that. what we have reallyit right now are two things. we have a father's unconditional love of his son. donald trump putting pieces in place to do exactly what he

said he would do. and that is to use the justice department to go after hiss perceived political enemies. so if you are joe biden, what would you leave his son exposed in that way? and jonathan, i want to rewind the tape if i can. how we got here was in january or february of 2021. joe biden joe biden's white house, particularly the white house counsel asked the justice department to keep david weis on as u.s. attorney. and they did so. i didn't talk to them about it. i was at doj at the time. but they did so to avoid even the appearance television impropriety. so fast forward now to this term. we have pam bondi, as you mentioned, one of thing -- the former florida attorney

general. poised to be the nation's top, who is an election denier. that is even beyond the actions of the conservative attorney general bill barr. so if you're joe biden and seeing these pieces come together. he did absolutely the right thing. and i'll say one last thing, because i know you're tight on time. is that imagine, if donald trump -- if his justice department has said they were going to investigate their own son, they would not have done what joe biden and his justice department did here. donald trump would have burned down the justice department before they would have kept on an obama-era attorney general. that's how we got here. >> ms nbc justice legal affairs. anthony coley.

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we're back with breaking news out of the white house. president biden has announced he pardoned his son hunter. joining us now is charles coleman jr. host of the charles

coleman podcast. thank you for being here. the president said multiple times that he would not pardon his son, and now you have lots of critics and lots of republican members of congress saying that he lied. what do you make of that criticism of the president? do you agree that he lied? >> well, jonathan, i won't go as far as to say the president lied. but i will say that this does do a big blow to the notion of what it is to have a two-tiered justice system in mc. i think when you're looking at the decision to pardon hunter biden, one of the most important things that has to be examined. and mike talked about this earlier, is the length of time, in which this party covers. it's not just the two crimes that he was convicted of. but it also is essentially, a 10-year span. i think when you're talking about that, it does raise the question as to whether this is about the court of law, or whether this is political theater. i think president biden understands that being a lame duck at this point, he is going

to have to deal with criticism. but i also don't think that the statements you referenced early on, in the campaign trail, and how he was going to stay out of it and had stayed out of it, can be taken without some degree of skepticism. >> let me read to you, the social media post that donald trump put out. basically, i'm not going to read it. he basically asks of the president, does your pardon of hunter extend to the, quote, j- 6 hostages? your reaction to that? >> listen, jonathan. this is something that comes from an unserious person. and it's an unserious tweet. and it's an unserious sentiment. at the end of the day, we know these are not even apples to oranges. the comparison is just ludicrous. but at the same time, -- and this is the unfortunate down side to what we're talking about. these have opened the door to political pardons in such a way, that it will be hard for

democrats and others to critique anything donald trump does on this scale, even if he doesn't have the justification. >> but i mean, charles, we have already seen in trump's first term, who he pardoned. flake flynn comes to mind. paul manafort comes to mind. steve bannon comes to mind. there are a couple of others. charles kushner who is now his designated to be the ambassador to france. so isn't that horse already out of the barn? >> in some respects, it is, jonathan. and i think that's a fair point to make. at the end of the day, what we're having a conversation about is how much we can trust and have confidence in our democratic institutions and our judicial systems being one of them. unfortunately, when you have this conversation about hunter biden being pardoned, it becomes an issue, where people on both sides have to question

that. we need us to have confidence in these institutions. >> right. we need to have confidence in has institutions. thank you very much, charles coleman jr., for jumping in front of a camera and being with us this evening. that does it for our breaking coverage news at this hour. i'm jonathan capeheart. have a good night. everyone customize and save hundreds on car insurance with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. and you have this dream every night? yeah, every night! hmm... i see. (limu squawks) only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ["the glory of love" plays] giving. ♪ giving that's possible through the power of dell ai with intel. so those who receive can find the joy of giving back.

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