US President Joe Biden had repeatedly denied that he was going to pardon his son Hunter for his gun and tax evasion convictions or commute what was shaping up to be a substantive prison sentence.
On the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving – at a moment when the American public’s attention was decidedly elsewhere – he announced he had changed his mind.
Hunter Biden had been found guilty on all three counts in his federal gun crimes case in Delaware.
The 12-person jury found the US president's son lied about his drug use on a form when purchasing a handgun in 2018.
Hunter faced a possible prison term of up to 25 years, although a sentence of that length for a first-time offender was highly unlikely.
The jury deliberated after listening to a week of witness testimony about the 54-year-old's drug addiction.