US President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.

12月1日晚，美国总统乔·拜登宣布赦免其子亨特·拜登，使亨特·拜登免于因联邦枪支重罪和税务指控而可能被判入狱。这违背了拜登此前不因家人利益而使用总统特殊权力的承诺。

The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

在特拉华州和加利福尼亚州的两起案件定罪后，美国总统、民主党人拜登此前曾表示不会赦免儿子或为其减轻处罚。此举发生在亨特·拜登在枪支案中被审判定罪并对税务指控认罪后接受惩罚的几周前，距离当选总统唐纳德·特朗普即将重返白宫不到两个月。

It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Biden's legacy.

亨特·拜登于2020年12月，也就是他父亲2020年总统大选获胜的一个月后，公开披露自己正在接受联邦调查。这给小拜登的长期法律传奇画上了句号，并为拜登的模范形象蒙上了一层阴影。

Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

亨特·拜登今年6月在特拉华州联邦法院被判三项重罪，罪名是2018年违规购买枪支。检察官表示，当时他在联邦表格上撒谎，声称自己没有非法使用毒品或吸毒成瘾。

He had been set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

亨特·拜登原定于今年9月在加利福尼亚州受审，该案指控他未缴纳至少140万美元的税款。出人意料的是，在陪审团筛选开始数小时后，他主动对轻罪和重罪指控认罪。

James Comer, one of the Republican chairmen leading congressional investigations into Biden's family, blasted the president’s pardon, saying that the evidence against Hunter was "just the tip of the iceberg."

领导众议院对拜登亲属进行调查的共和党人詹姆斯·科默抨击总统的赦免，称对亨特不利的证据“只是冰山一角”。

"It's unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability," Comer said on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.

科默在社交平台X（推特的前身）上表示：“令人遗憾的是，拜登总统和他的家人没有坦白他们几十年来的不法行为，而是继续竭尽所能逃避责任。”

Biden is hardly the first president to deploy his pardon powers to benefit those close to him.

拜登并不是第一位利用赦免权为亲信谋利的总统。

In his final weeks in office, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Trump over the weekend announced plans to nominate the elder Kushner to be the US envoy to France in his next administration.

在任期的最后几周，特朗普宣布赦免其女婿贾里德·库什纳的父亲查尔斯·库什纳，以及在特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒主持的“通俄”调查中被定罪的多名盟友。11月30日，特朗普宣布将提名查尔斯·库什纳在下届政府中担任美国驻法国大使。

Hunter Biden's legal team filed Sunday night in both Los Angeles and Delaware asking the judges handling his gun and tax cases to immediately dismiss them, citing the pardon.

12月1日晚，亨特·拜登的律师团队在洛杉矶和特拉华州提出申请，要求处理其枪支和税务案件的法官以赦免为由立即驳回这些案件。

pardon

v. 宽恕；赦免

misdemeanor

n. 不法行为；(相对于重罪的)轻罪

accountability

n. 有责任，有义务