Hunter Biden Floats 2028 Presidential Run After Years of Legal Trouble and Family Pardons

Hunter Biden wants you to know he’s considering a run for president. Let that sink in for a moment. The same man whose father had to issue a sweeping, unconditional pardon to erase federal gun and tax convictions now says he might be qualified to lead the nation. The sheer audacity would be impressive if it weren’t so insulting to anyone who still believes words should mean something.

During a Sunday interview with John Catsimatidis on WABC’s “Cats Roundtable,” Biden teased the possibility of entering the 2028 race. When asked about a potential White House bid, he responded with what can only be described as practiced ambiguity. “If I get your endorsement, I may have to,” he said. He framed his hypothetical campaign around helping the roughly 50 million Americans struggling with addiction, a cause he knows intimately after his own well-documented battles with substance abuse.

Here’s where things get rich. When Catsimatidis pressed him on his qualifications, Biden didn’t point to any executive experience or policy achievements. He pointed to the Constitution. “He is my qualification for becoming president, if you believe in the Constitution of the United States of America that you swear to uphold and protect,” Biden said. He added that he wants the next president “to commit to one thing: adhering to the rule of law.”

You know what’s fascinating about that answer? It completely ignores the elephant in the room. This is a man whose father granted him a full and unconditional pardon in December 2024, wiping away federal convictions before he could even be sentenced. The pardon covered any conduct dating back a full decade. So when Hunter Biden talks about adhering to the rule of law, what exactly does he mean? The rule of law that applies to everyone else, or the special dispensation that powerful political families can apparently grant themselves when the heat gets too uncomfortable?

The legal troubles weren’t minor footnotes either. Biden was convicted on federal gun charges related to a 2018 firearm purchase where he falsely denied drug use. He separately pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. These aren’t the kind of things that typically appear on a presidential resume, yet here we are discussing his potential candidacy as if it’s a normal development in American politics.

What makes this particularly galling is the contrast with his own previous statements. Just last August, during an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Biden waved off the idea of running entirely. He joked that anyone hearing he’d announced a campaign should “check and see if I relapsed.” Apparently something changed between August and now. Maybe he got more sober, or maybe he just got more ambitious. Hard to say which is worse for the rest of us.

To his credit, Biden did acknowledge the strong Democratic field, mentioning Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Governor JB Pritzker of Illinois before adding, “I love Gavin Newsom, personally.” Newsom has been eyeing a run after the midterms and has polled ahead of both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in hypothetical matchups. Other potential Democratic contenders include Senator Jon Ossoff, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. That’s a crowded field, and honestly, most of them bring more to the table than a famous last name and a recent pardon.

Biden did mention that he recently marked seven and a half years of sobriety, which is genuinely commendable. Addiction is a brutal disease, and recovery deserves respect. He’s been candid about his struggles, including in his 2021 memoir. But personal triumph over addiction, while worthy of admiration, doesn’t automatically translate into qualification for the highest office in the land. Americans need more than redemption stories from their leaders. They need competence, judgment, and a track record that inspires confidence rather than raises questions.

The Democratic Party faces a real choice here. They can either take this trial balloon seriously and watch it become a circus that overshadows legitimate candidates, or they can gently but firmly close this door before it swings wide open. Any Biden candidacy would invite relentless scrutiny of his personal history, his business dealings, and the special treatment his family received. That’s not speculation. That’s political gravity.

The conversation around rule of law and constitutional adherence rings particularly hollow coming from someone who benefited from the most explicit form of executive clemency possible. Americans across the political spectrum are tired of double standards. They’re tired of watching one set of rules apply to the connected and another set apply to everyone else. Hunter Biden running for president wouldn’t just be tone deaf. It would be a slap in the face to anyone who still believes in accountability and equal justice under law.