The former first lady revealed in a recent interview that fears of retaliation under a second Trump administration led to the controversial decision to pardon Hunter Biden, defending a move that shocked political observers across the spectrum. Jill Biden sat down with CBS News correspondent Rita Braver to discuss the family’s reasoning behind the clemency decision that appeared to contradict repeated public promises.
“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,” she told Braver, according to the CBS broadcast.
The interview aired on “CBS News Sunday Morning” after being recorded earlier that week. The timing coincided with the publication of her memoir, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” released by Gallery Books.
A Sweeping Pardon Covering Eleven Years
Former President Joe Biden announced the pardon in December 2024 during his presidency’s final month, erasing two separate federal cases. Hunter Biden had been convicted of three felony gun charges related to his purchase and possession of a firearm in 2018, including possession of a firearm while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance. He later pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges.
The clemency extended far beyond those convictions. It granted a full and unconditional pardon for any offenses Hunter Biden “committed or may have committed” between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024 — roughly 11 years that covered both cases plus virtually any other potential federal liability from his business dealings or personal conduct.
In announcing the pardon, Joe Biden argued his son faced selective prosecution for political reasons. “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,” the former president said at the time. He noted Hunter had been five and a half years sober and characterized the prosecutions as part of an “unrelenting” campaign of attacks.
Breaking a Public Vow
Braver confronted Jill Biden with the fact that Joe Biden had publicly stated he would not pardon Hunter, before reversing that position in his presidency’s waning weeks. When asked if she had pushed her husband to change his mind, Jill Biden acknowledged the reversal but insisted circumstances transformed after the November 2024 election.
She declined to directly answer whether she personally pressured the president to issue the pardon. When Braver posed the question again, Jill Biden shifted her response. “Oh gosh, I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe,” she replied, avoiding clarification about whether she initiated the decision.
Jill Biden told Braver that “the justice department changed, and the process was not fair to Hunter,” suggesting the family believed prosecutors in a second Trump administration would pursue aggressive action against Hunter Biden.
Family Pardons Beyond Hunter
Braver also questioned why Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to other Biden family members before leaving office — an extraordinary action that drew widespread criticism from legal experts and political adversaries. Jill Biden gave the same explanation, stating Joe Biden worried Trump would go after his relatives once he returned to power.
Debate Night Panic
The conversation with CBS yielded other notable disclosures. Jill Biden said she felt “frightened” watching her husband’s poor performance at a June 2024 debate against Trump — the event that triggered the sequence leading to Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race. In the memoir, she describes her thoughts during the debate: “Is he short-circuiting? … Is this a stroke? … Was he having a medical emergency?” She writes that nearly two years later she still does not know what happened, and says she regrets not requesting bloodwork. She also recounts Joe Biden whispering to her as he left the stage: “I really *** up, didn’t I?” — an admission that, if accurate, would recast one of the most consequential moments of the 2024 campaign.
Jill Biden’s comments to Braver mark one of her most extensive public statements since departing the White House. Critics of the pardon have maintained the action undermined Joe Biden’s long-held rhetoric about the rule of law and equal justice — a criticism the former first lady made no effort to accept.
