The former first lady has offered an unusually candid justification for one of the most controversial decisions of her husband’s presidency, saying in a new interview that the family believed President Donald Trump would “target” their son Hunter Biden once he returned to power.

In a sit-down conversation on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” first lady Jill Biden defended the sweeping pardon that former President Joe Biden issued to his son Hunter Biden in December 2024, during the final month of his term.

The interview with CBS correspondent Rita Braver was timed to promote Jill Biden’s memoir, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” which Gallery Books published in June.

Fear of Trump Drove Pardon Decision

Speaking to Braver, Jill Biden said the calculus around Hunter’s legal jeopardy shifted dramatically after the November 2024 election brought Trump back to the White House.

“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 former first lady stopped short of admitting she personally pushed her husband to grant the pardon. When Braver asked the question a second time, Jill Biden offered only that she had supported the decision. “Oh gosh, I truly supported it. I wanted him to pardon Hunter at that point, and I agreed with Joe,” she replied, sidestepping the issue of whether she had been the driving force behind the decision.

A Reversal After Repeated Public Vows

Braver challenged Jill Biden over the apparent reversal, reminding her that her husband had publicly vowed, “I won’t pardon Hunter,” before changing course in the final weeks of his presidency. The pardon stunned even some Democratic allies and drew criticism from legal scholars and political opponents who argued it undermined Joe Biden’s longstanding rhetoric about the rule of law and equal justice.

Jill Biden acknowledged the about-face but argued circumstances had shifted dramatically after the November 2024 election. She told Braver that the justice department changed and the process was not fair to Hunter, reflecting a belief inside the Biden family that prosecutors under a second Trump administration would not have shown restraint.

An Extraordinarily Broad Pardon

The clemency Joe Biden ultimately granted was full and unconditional, covering any offenses Hunter Biden “committed or may have committed” between January one, 2014, and December one, 2024 — a roughly eleven-year window that encompassed both convictions as well as virtually any other potential federal exposure stemming from his business dealings or personal conduct.

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony gun charges tied to his purchase and possession of a firearm in 2018, including possession of a firearm while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance. A few months later, he pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges. The pardon, announced in December 2024, wiped clean two separate federal cases against the younger Biden.

When he announced the pardon, Joe Biden insisted his son had been the victim of selective prosecution driven by political considerations. “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 emphasized that Hunter had been five and a half years sober and described the prosecutions as part of an “unrelenting” campaign of attacks.

Other Family Members Pardoned Too

Braver also pressed Jill Biden on why her husband had moved to issue preemptive pardons to other members of the Biden family on his way out of office — a highly unusual step that drew criticism from legal scholars and political opponents alike. She offered the same rationale, saying Joe Biden was worried Trump would target his relatives once back in power.

Debate Night Trauma Revealed

The interview produced other revealing moments. Jill Biden told CBS that she had been “frightened” while watching her husband’s disastrous June 2024 debate against Trump — the performance that ultimately set in motion the chain of events leading to Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. In the memoir, she describes her real-time inner monologue during the debate: “Is he short-circuiting? … Is this a stroke? … Was he having a medical emergency?” She writes that 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 language suggesting regret about his performance — an admission that, if accurate, would recast one of the most consequential moments of the 2024 campaign.

Jill Biden’s remarks to Braver represent one of her most extensive public commentaries since leaving the White House. Critics of the pardon have argued the move undermined Joe Biden’s longstanding rhetoric about the rule of law and equal justice — a charge the former first lady showed no sign of conceding.