Disgraced first son Hunter Biden was seated just steps away from his father, President Biden, as the outgoing commander in chief called on Americans to respect “the courts” and “pay their fair share” of taxes during his final Oval Office address Wednesday.
Biden, 82, asserted that his more than 50 years in public office has taught him that “believing the idea of America means respecting institutions that govern a free society,” including “the courts” – as his recently pardoned 54-year-old son looked on.
In his farewell speech, the outgoing president also urged wealthy Americans to “play by the same rules” and “pay their fair share of taxes.”
Last September, the first son pleaded guilty to nine tax charges — including three felonies — for dodging $1.4 million in payments to the IRS while spending extravagantly on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing,” and other personal items.
Hunter’s guilty plea in the tax case followed a separate Delaware jury trial last June, during which he was convicted on three felony charges related to a 2018 gun purchase he made while addicted to crack cocaine.
As Hunter’s sentencing dates approached, the president granted him a sweeping pardon – absolving him of any crimes committed, or possibly committed, between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024.
The reprieve, issued last December, followed nearly a dozen vehement denials from White House officials and Biden himself that Hunter would be pardoned.
“To me, family is everything,” the president, who allegedly enabled his family to run a multi-million dollar international influence peddling scheme, said near the end of his farewell speech.
First lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff were also spotted in the Oval Office during the president’s address.
Biden’s last day in office will be next Monday.
