The “full and unconditional” pardon is aimed at protecting the president’s son from future prosecution by the Trump Justice Department.

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden released a statement Sunday night saying he’s signed a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden. The pardon comes after the family spent several days together in Nantucket for Thanksgiving, and is just days ahead of when Hunter Biden was set to face his first of two sentencing hearings.

The pardon comes weeks before President Biden leaves office and transfers power to President-elect Donald J. Trump, who spent years attacking Hunter Biden over his legal and personal issues.

Hunter Biden has responded to his pardon in a new court filing. He informed a federal court that his father, President Joe Biden, had pardoned him of federal tax evasion and gun crimes. "Joseph R Biden Jr granted me a full and unconditional pardon for, inter alia, the offenses specified in the indictment in this case," he wrote.

President Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter, though he had previously said he would not do so. That spares the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions.

President Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden after he was convicted in a felony gun case and a separate felony tax case earlier this year.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has criticized the U.S. president's decision in a pro-Kremlin newspaper.

Donald Trump on Sunday evening gave his first reaction to President Joe Biden's decision to pardon his son, Hunter. Biden earned applause from political insiders and onlookers alike after he made the announcement,