Northeast
Biden pardons son Hunter Biden ahead of exit from Oval Office
President Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, after the first son was convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year.
The announcement was made by the White House on Sunday night. The pardon applies to offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed” from Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” Biden wrote in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
The president went on to claim that his son was “treated differently” by prosecutors.
BIDEN WON’T PARDON HUNTER, WHITE HOUSE REAFFIRMS, BUT CRITICS AREN’T SO SURE
Hunter Biden, accompanied by his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, arrives at federal court on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
“Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form,” Biden added. “Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.”
Biden also referenced his son’s battle with addiction and blamed “raw politics” for the unraveling of Hunter’s plea deal.
“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,” the 82-year-old father wrote. “In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden’s statement concluded.
TRUMP NOMINATES KASH PATEL TO SERVE AS FBI DIRECTOR: ‘ADVOCATE FOR TRUTH’
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 03, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Hunter Biden, 54, has had a busy year in court, kicking off his first trial in Delaware in June, when he faced three felony firearm offenses, before he pleaded guilty in a separate felony tax case in September.
President Biden pardoning his son is a departure from his previous remarks to the media over the summer, declaring he would not pardon the first son.
“Yes,” President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his guilty verdict in the gun case.
Days later, following a jury of Hunter’s peers finding him guilty of three felony firearm offenses, the president again said he would not pardon his son.
“I am not going to do anything,” Biden said after Hunter was convicted. “I will abide by the jury’s decision.”
In the gun case, Hunter was found guilty of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN GUN TRIAL
President Biden speaks at the Carpenters Local Union 445 “Get Out The Vote” event in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 2, 2024. (Photo by Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images)
Prosecutors specifically worked to prove that Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018, when he ticked a box labeled “No” when asked if he is an unlawful user of substances or addicted to controlled substances.
Hunter has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” which walked readers through his previous need to smoke crack cocaine every 20 minutes, how his addiction was so prolific that he referred to himself as a “crack daddy” to drug dealers, and anecdotes revolving around drug deals, such as a Washington, D.C., crack dealer Biden nicknamed “Bicycles.”
HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS DAY 5 AFTER TESTIMONY FROM SISTER-IN-LAW-TURNED-GIRLFRIEND: ‘PANICKED’
Hunter’s attorneys did not dispute the first son’s long history with substance abuse amid the trial, which also included an addiction to alcohol. The defense instead argued that on the day Biden bought the Cobra Colt .38, he did not consider himself an active drug addict, citing the first son’s stint in rehab ahead of the October 2018 purchase.
Prosecutors, however, argued Biden was addicted to crack cocaine before, during and after he bought the handgun. Just one day after the gun purchase, prosecutors showed the court that Biden texted Hallie Biden, his sister-in-law-turned-girlfriend, to say he was “waiting for a dealer named Mookie.” A day after that text, he texted that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney” in Wilmington.
Hunter Biden, Melissa Cohen Biden, right, and first lady Jill Biden leave the federal court after the jury finds him guilty on all three counts in his trial on criminal gun charges, in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 11, 2024. (REUTERS/Hannah Beier)
A jury deliberated for roughly three hours across two days before they found Hunter guilty on each charge.
Hunter was scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 13, which was delayed until December before his dad intervened.
After President Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity and age, Hunter faced another trial regarding three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.
As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court, Hunter entered a surprise guilty plea.
HUNTER BIDEN PLEADS GUILTY TO ALL NINE FEDERAL TAX CHARGES BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS
“I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment,” Hunter said in an emailed statement at the time. “For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty.”
A court sketch depicts Hunter Biden’s federal trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, June 10, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars, but the first son would likely have faced a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16.
Ahead of the president’s decision to pardon his son, President-elect Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he would consider pardoning Hunter if victorious on Nov. 5.
Former President Donald Trump is pictured at an election night watch party on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP/Alex Brandon)
“I wouldn’t take it off the books,” Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt in October. “See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously. . . . And Hunter’s a bad boy.”
“There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy,” Trump continued. “But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.”
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New Jersey
Several South Jersey corrections officers fired for misconduct
Video: Fans turn out for Les Grenadiers, Haiti’s World Cup team
Haiti’s World Cup team held an open practice on June 9, 2026, at Stockton University in Galloway Township, its base for the competition.
One corrections officer was fired and two were suspended after an inmate was slain at Burlington County Jail in November 2024, according to a just-released report.
The fired officer, Nicholas Morton, failed to conduct required security tours during the hours of the alleged murder. He also didn’t tell his superiors that the attacker and his victim had previously asked to be placed in different cells, said the June 12 report from the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
This incident was just one of 817 major disciplinary actions against 654 law enforcement officers, the agency says, detailing these findings in their 560-page report.
It notes the terminations or other departures of at least a dozen corrections officers at South Jersey lockups.
That includes two officers accused of using excessive force on inmates in Camden County Jail, two accused of having sexual relationships with girls at a state juvenile facility and a prison officer who exposed himself for a selfie while on duty.
In the Burlington County case, Rondale Holloman, now 39, allegedly murdered his 74-year-old cellmate, Kenneth Bulle, in November 2024.
Hollomon told investigators that he punched Bulle, then strangled him with a T-shirt for approximately eight minutes. He said Bulle crawled back into his bed and breathed “very heavily” until he died, according to a probable cause statement.
Holloman said he waited “a few hours” before telling corrections officers about the attack at approximately 2:30 a.m. Nov. 15.
An internal investigation found that Morton had failed to conduct at least two security tours at half-hour intervals during his shift from Nov. 14 into Nov. 15.
“It was also discovered that Officer Morton neglected to inform his immediate supervisors that both inmates made a request to move out of the cell away from each other,” the report says.
Two other corrections officers, Sgt. Terrance Benson and Lieutenant Jonathan Carroll, received 15-day suspensions.
Benson, the shift sergeant at the time of Bulle’s death, “neglected to conduct a full and complete security tour of the facility,” the report states.
Carroll, the shift commander, “neglected to correct his subordinates, who did not call the code for the incident,” it says. That failure “delayed the custody and medical staff from responding to the scene with the proper equipment.”
Carroll also did not make “immediate corrective action on several entries in logbook that were made by his supervisors and officers on duty,” the report adds.
Holloman is currently awaiting trial on a murder charge. The charge is an allegation, and he has not been convicted in the case.
Holloman and Bulle were being held on charges stemming from violent attacks.
Bulle, a Mount Holly resident, allegedly stabbed a sleeping woman several times with a kitchen knife Oct. 1, 2024.
Holloman, a Burlington Township resident, was in jail for allegedly slamming a woman to the ground, then punching and kicking her during a domestic incident in September 2024.
Here are some other notable South Jersey incidents involving corrections facilities:
Camden County Jail
- Two officers were fired for using excessive force. The report says Tee Lormia struck an inmate in the head with a roundhouse kick, while Nicholas Taylor lifted an inmate from behind and slammed him to the ground. A third officer, Yamalis Diaz, was fired after pleading guilty to shoplifting.
Youth Justice Commission
- Gary Nieves and William Young were terminated after the senior correctional police officers (SCPOs) allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship “and established undue familiarity” with residents of the Juvenile Female Secure Care & Intake Facility in Bordentown Township. The former officers are charged with sexual assault of a victim under supervision and other offenses. The charges are only allegations, and neither has been convicted in the case. Young’s attorney, Robin Kay Lord of Trenton, said the officer “is absolutely innocent and they will owe him a ton of backpay shortly.” An attorney for Nieves could not be reached.
New Jersey Department of Corrections
- Courtlen Flax, an SCPO at South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, was terminated in September 2025 in connection with an incident in April 2017. Flax allegedly punched an inmate in the face, “causing the individual to suffer a perforated eardrum and blurred vision,” the report says.
- Joel Munoz, an SCPO at South Woods, was dismissed following an investigation into an inmate’s death in December 2023. The investigation didn’t find Munoz was responsible for the death, but it revealed that his logbook entries were false compared to video footage of security checks.
- David Williams, an SCPO at Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, was the subject of an internal investigation that produced images of the officer in uniform “taking a photo of himself with his penis exposed while on duty,” at a hospital, the report says. Another photo found on Williams’ phone, taken from a Bayside tower, showed the secured perimeter of the prison yard with incarcerated persons visible. Williams retired under a settlement agreement in April 2025.
- Robert Currey resigned as a Bayside SCPO in November 2025. The state had previously suspended his law enforcement license after Currey was charged with resisting arrest in a Cumberland County incident.
Cumberland County Jail
- Officer Sonya Lawrence was fired in August 2025 in connection with the discovery of illegal drugs and weapons during a search of her home by New Jersey State Police.
- Corrections Officer Robert Dawkins was terminated in May 2025 in connection with an October 2024 incident where one inmate threw liquid at another in the officer’s presence. A video showed Dawkins shaking an inmate’s hand at the end of the incident, the report says, noting that he didn’t log the event, notify a supervisor or inform his relieving officer.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.
Pennsylvania
Emails detail how leaders in one Pa. county worked behind the scenes after ICE detention center surprise
Rhode Island
R.I. governor’s hometown Democratic committee endorses his opponent – The Boston Globe
But in a statement Monday, committee First Vice Chair Lisa Beaulieu said that while the committee respects McKee’s years of public service, “Many members felt Rhode Island needs a change in leadership and a renewed sense of urgency.”
McKee’s administration has been castigated over the closure of the Washington Bridge westbound in December 2023. Last week, McKee held a news conference to announce that construction of a brand new bridge has begun.
Beaulieu said, “Recent controversies and challenges facing state government have only reinforced our members’ belief that Rhode Island needs new leadership and a greater sense of urgency. We believe Helena Foulkes is the candidate best prepared to meet this moment and help put Rhode Island on a stronger path for the future.”
The Cumberland Democratic Town Committee voted 30 to 11 to back Foulkes over McKee, who served as mayor of Cumberland from 2007 to 2015 and from 2001 to 2005. He also served on the Cumberland Town Council from 1992 to 2000.
“Helena Foulkes earned overwhelming support from our committee because she has demonstrated the leadership qualities we are looking for in our next governor,” Beaulieu said. “She understands that Rhode Islanders expect more than promises — they expect progress.“
The McKee campaign has attacked Foulkes’ record as a former CVS executive, saying she bears responsibility for the opioid crisis.
Beaulieu said, “Whether it’s strengthening our economy, improving public services, addressing infrastructure challenges, or making Rhode Island more competitive, Helena has shown she has both the experience and the drive to move our state forward.”
The committee took its endorsement responsibility seriously, Beaulieu said. “Our members carefully considered who is best equipped to lead Rhode Island through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead,” she said.
Foulkes issued a statement saying, “I hear from Rhode Islanders all the time about how they feel like the state government isn’t working for them and how eager they are for change. The Cumberland Democratic Town Committee’s endorsement is a telling rejection of the status quo.”
The McKee campaign declined to comment Monday night.
The winner of the Sept. 9 Democratic gubernatorial primary, which also involves Gregory Stevens, will face independent candidate Ken Block and the winner of a Republican primary involving Aaron Guckian, Elaine Pelino, and Robert Raimondo.
The Cumberland Democratic Town Committee endorsed Newport City Councilman Xay Khamsyvoravong over Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos, former state senator Cynthia “Cindy” Coyne, and Providence Councilwoman Sue AnderBois in another Democratic primary. The winner will face former Republican state representative John J. Loughlin II.
The committee endorsed Keith Hoffmann, former chief of policy and senior counsel in the attorney general’s office, for state attorney general in a Democratic primary that also includes state Representative Jason Knight, Representative Joseph J. Solomon Jr., and former state Cannabis Control Commission chairperson Kim Ahern.
The committee endorsed US Senator Jack Reed, US Congressman Gabe Amo, Secretary of State Gregg M. Amore, and General Treasurer James A. Diossa. The committee also endorsed state Senators Ryan W. Pearson, Brian Thompson and state Representatives Mia A. Ackerman, Brandon Voas, Alex Marszalkowski, and Robert D. Phillips.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
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