A motorcade carrying former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approaches the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where Ms. Clinton is scheduled to testify before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on February 26, 2026 in Chappaqua, New York.
| Photo Credit: AP

“He is in good spirits and grateful for the care he is receiving,” the hospital said.

US presidents traditionally dole out pardons as they leave office but Joe Biden’s “full and unconditional” pardon of his son Hunter is a rare instance involving a family member.

Bill Clinton granted a pardon to his half-brother Roger, who had served time in prison on 1985 drug charges, on January 20, 2001, his last day in office.

And Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, a fellow real estate magnate whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, at the end of his first term in the White House.

Trump, now president-elect, nominated Kushner, 70, who pleaded guilty in 2004 to tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign contributions, on Saturday to be the next US ambassador to France.

Kushner, who served 14 months in prison, admitted hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, who was cooperating in the campaign finance inquiry, and sending a videotape of the encounter to his own sister.

Hunter Biden, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, is the first child of a sitting president to receive a pardon.

His father, who leaves office on January 20, had repeatedly said he would not pardon his son — but in announcing the move on Sunday he claimed that Hunter had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden said.

“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 president said.

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax evasion in September and was facing up to 17 years in prison. He risked 25 years in prison for the felony gun charge but was not expected to receive such stiff sentences in either case.

Presidents have also used their constitutionally-mandated pardon powers over the years on close friends and political allies.

One of the most controversial pardons in recent years was that of former president Richard Nixon by his successor in the White House, Gerald Ford.

Ford granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Nixon, who was facing potential prosecution over the Watergate scandal, on September 8, 1974.

Trump is the first former president convicted of a crime — falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star — but he will not be able to pardon himself because the case involved state and not federal charges.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

U.S. President Joe Biden met Bangladesh interim leader Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of the U.N.’s annual summit in New York.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden met Tuesday (September 25, 2024) with Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus on the margins of the U.N.’s annual summit, in a show of support after an uprising toppled the country’s autocratic government.

Mr. Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, later received high praise from former president Bill Clinton, who hailed their 40-year-long friendship and the global impact of the Bangladeshi’s pioneering microfinance loans.

The 84-year-old economist was appointed as the country’s “Chief Advisor” in August following the bloody, student-led movement that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, who has since fled the country.

Mr. Biden offered “continued U.S. support as Bangladesh implements its new reform agenda,” a White House statement said.

The U.S.-Bangladesh relationship “is rooted in shared democratic values and strong people-to-people ties,” it said.

According to a readout provided by Bangladeshi officials, Mr. Yunus briefed Mr. Biden on how the students “rose against the tyranny of the previous government and gave their lives to create this opportunity to rebuild Bangladesh,” and said his interim government would need U.S. help to rebuild the nation.

Mr. Yunus also presented Mr. Biden with a book featuring paintings made by the students.

Also Read: Bangladesh Army chief gives timeline for democracy, seeks election in 18 months

Long friendship

Mr. Yunus was later invited to speak at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting, where former president Mr. Clinton said, “few people on this planet have done as much (as Mr. Yunus) to change the lives of ordinary people who would never have had access to credit.”

Their friendship dates back to the 1980s, when Mr. Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, invited Mr. Yunus to visit and share his approach to alleviating poverty through small loans, which had successfully empowered impoverished Bangladeshi women without access to traditional banking services.

“You’re the only old guy I know who was ever drafted for his eminent position by the young people of his country,” Mr. Clinton quipped about Mr. Yunus’s elevation to interim leader. “That’s because he has succeeded in doing what we all must do: we all have to stay in the future business.”

Mr. Yunus, in turn, thanked Mr. Clinton for believing in him in his early days, and for standing by him despite criticism at the time for promoting a Bangladeshi economist’s ideas in America.

He also paid tribute to Bangladeshi youthful revolutionaries, saying: “They are the ones creating the new version of Bangladesh – let’s wish them every success.”

Hasina’s government was accused of widespread rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political rivals.

More than 450 people were killed in the weeks of violence leading up to her removal.

Since her departure for exile in neighbouring India, cabinet ministers and other senior members of Hasina’s party have been arrested, and her government’s appointees have been purged from courts and the central bank.

Journalists seen as close to her regime have also been detained.

While the United States had generally maintained a cooperative relationship with Hasina, an ally of India and a partner on issues like combating Islamist extremism, Washington had criticized her government’s democratic backsliding.