The 46th POTUS announced the news just minutes ago ... releasing a statement saying he's stood by while watching his son being "being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted."

Biden goes on to say other people convicted of the same crimes -- lying on federal forms and paying their taxes late because of addiction -- are typically given non-criminal resolutions ... but, Hunter was treated differently.

JB says the charges in his cases only came about after Republicans in Congress used them to attack him ... and, mentions how a plea deal in the tax evasion case fell apart in 2023 -- with his Republican opponents taking credit for putting political pressure on the legal system to get the deal to come apart.

Joe says he believes in the legal system ... but, he also believes it's being weaponized by politicians in the case against his son -- and, he's not going to sit by while Hunter goes to prison for it.

Worth noting ... this justification sounds similar to comments Donald Trump made after he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records back in May -- comments Democrats slammed the president-elect for.

He ends his message by writing, "I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision."

Hunter was convicted on three felony counts of lying on a federal firearms application back in June. All the lies were about his drug use ... and, he was facing 25 years in prison for the conviction.

Three months later, Hunter agreed to plead guilty to nine federal charges in September after allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.

President Biden promised months ago he wouldn't pardon his son Hunter ... so, this move came as a bit of a shock to many who had been following this case.

Of course, a major reason Joe is pardoing his son stems from his time as president coming to an end ... and, with no more elections to run, this can't hurt him in the future polls.