The White House said on Monday that President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter in part because of concern that his political opponents would continue to persecute the younger Biden in the future, including after he left the Oval Office.

Biden, a Democrat whose term ends on Jan. 20 when Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office, signed an unconditional pardon for Hunter Biden on Sunday and said he believed his son had been selectively prosecuted and targeted unfairly by the president's political opponents.

Biden said in the past that he would not pardon his son, including to ABC News in June when he was asked if he would rule out a pardon, and replied "yes."