Jill Biden 'pressured' Joe to issue Hunter a pardon: CNN report

CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny reported on Sunday that President Joe Biden was under "pressure" from "inside the family" to pardon his son Hunter Biden. Zeleny said "clearly there was pressure inside the family, we were told—really in recent weeks that Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady Jill Biden was really supportive of the President doing something like this. The President was not sure."

"So we were told that this sort of came to a head this weekend," Zeleny said, "and this is why President Biden decided now to do this." He referenced "the kind of conversation that has been going on really inside the family. I'm told this has been very much a family discussion and not something that has been widely shared or discussed as a policy matter inside the West Wing. But there was a worry of future prosecutions or future potential of what the incoming Trump Justice Department could do."

President Biden and his White House have both repeatedly stated unequivocally that the president would not pardon his son. Hunter was convicted on federal gun charges in June and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges in September. Sentencing for both was set to happen in the coming weeks. He would have faced years in prison.

The pardon, however, covers far more than the two recent convictions but goes back to 2014 and is a full pardon for anything that could be thrown at Hunter from that point onward. In 2014, Hunter sat on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma and earned $80,000 per month for his service, despite not knowing much about energy. There have been accusations that he failed to register as a foreign agent, in violation of FARA laws, and that he was engaged in selling influence with his father.

When she was asked about the pardon at a White House Christmas party, First Lady Biden said "Of course I support the pardon of my son."

It was reported on Monday that the decision to issue the pardon was made over the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket. Additional reporting, however, brings the issue back to June after Hunter was first convicted on gun charges.