Outgoing US President Joe Biden proved on Saturday that family comes first when he announced he would pardon his son Hunter on gun and tax fraud charges.

According to the NY Times, Biden discussed the step, which had occupied him for months, with his wife Jill Biden and Hunter. However, the president had always said he would not grant his son a pardon, which would keep him out of legal trouble for years.

The pardon covers Hunter’s possible federal offenses from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024. Additionally, he will not be prosecuted or jailed, and scheduled court hearings will likely be canceled. Also at issue is Hunter’s tenure on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which raises questions about his international financial dealings.

The announcement comes as Biden watches cautiously as President-elect Donald J. Trump selects his loyalists for the incoming Cabinet, who have vowed to exact political and legal retribution against the GOP leader’s opponents.

Trump expresses sympathy for the Biden family’s problems with the Justice Department

According to three people briefed on the conversation, Biden welcomed Trump to the White House, where he listened impassively as the president-elect aired familiar grievances about the Justice Department before surprising his host by expressing sympathy for the family’s own struggles Biden expressed concern with the department.

But the outgoing president’s surprise decision came just before Hunter’s upcoming sentencing on federal gun and tax charges, scheduled for December. As a father, all Biden could do was pardon his difficult son, a recovering addict who he believed had endured years of public suffering.

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Biden holds urgent meeting with top advisers

After Biden returned to the White House from Nantucket, Massachusetts, following his final Thanksgiving as president, he called a meeting of some top advisers on Saturday to inform them of his decision.

“It’s time to end all of this,” Biden said, the NY Times reported, citing a person who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to some people close to Biden, the decision sparked a battle between two fundamental identities: the president, who prides himself on following his morals, and the desperate father, trying to protect his child.