When asked if he would pardon President Joe Biden’s son, Trump said he “wouldn’t take it off the books.” The president previously said he would not pardon his son.

The comments could come as a mild surprise, given Trump has relentlessly attacked the president for his son’s actions in the past. During the 2020 election, Trump often brought up Hunter Biden’s missing laptop, which allegedly showed corruption from the president.

Trump made the new comments during a conversation with Republican radio show host Hugh Hewitt.

“See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously … and Hunter’s a bad boy,” Trump said. “There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do is see the laptop from Hell. But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.”

Earlier this year, Hunter Biden was convicted in his Delaware federal gun trial and pled guilty to charges of tax evasion in his California trial.

The president has adamantly denied that he has “gone after” Trump or affected any cases against the former president.

Trump also cited, as an example of his relative political mercy, that he didn’t punish Hillary Clinton for her alleged misuse of a private email server for government emails after he got elected in 2016.

“I could have gotten Hillary Clinton very easily,” Trump said. “I could have had her put in jail. I decided I didn’t want to do that. I thought it would look terrible.”

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Trump’s statement on Hunter Biden is out of recent character. In an interview with Fox News, Trump said if “radical left lunatics” disrupt the election, “it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military,” indicating he’s open to taking government action against those with whom he has been unaligned with politically.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the Trump campaign and the White House for comment.