Special counsel bristles at Biden’s explanation for why he pardoned son Hunter

Special counsel David Weiss on Monday rejected President Biden’s claim that his prosecution of Hunter Biden was politically motivated and argued that the charges should not be dismissed following a sweeping pardon.

In a filing in a Los Angeles federal court, where Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges months earlier, Mr. Weiss said neither the president nor his son have offered credible evidence that politics played a role in the prosecutions.

“There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” he wrote, calling the claims “baseless.”

Mr. Biden granted his son a “full and unconditional” pardon for any crimes Hunter Biden may have possibly committed between January 2014 and December 2024, including crimes in which charges had not been brought.

The pardon enables Hunter Biden to escape prison time after a jury in Delaware this summer convicted him on three federal gun charges, and he pleaded guilty in the tax case. Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced later this month in both cases and could have faced some jail time.

In issuing the pardon, Mr. Biden condemned the prosecutions of his son as a “miscarriage of justice” brought on by Republicans injecting “raw politics” into the judicial process.

Mr. Weiss fired back, saying Hunter Biden made similar allegations to have the gun charges dismissed only to have the claims rejected by a federal judge.

Citing U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who oversaw the gun case, Mr. Weiss wrote that there was “no evidence or indication” that the president’s political foes “successfully influenced” the decision to indict Hunter Biden.

Moments after Mr. Biden issued the pardon, Hunter Biden’s legal team filed papers in Delaware and California arguing that the tax and gun charges should be dismissed.

In his filing Monday, Mr. Weiss argued that the courts should not dismiss the case. Instead, he suggested that the court should end the proceedings and close the case by reflecting that a pardon was the final resolution. The difference is procedural because, in either scenario, Hunter Biden won’t be sentenced for his crimes.

Mr. Weiss said that leaving pardon as the final disposition would not absolve Hunter Biden of his guilt or suggest that the prosecution was flawed.

“If media reports are accurate, the government does not challenge that the defendant has been the recipient of an act of mercy. But that does not mean the grand jury’s decision to charge him, based on a finding of probable cause, should be wiped away as if it never occurred,” Mr. Weiss wrote.

“It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive,” he continued. “No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice in this district.”

Mr. Weiss added that his team has not yet seen the pardon document.

Judge Noreika said she intends to terminate the proceedings against Hunter Biden once the pardon is docketed, but she asked Mr. Weiss to inform her if his office objects to a dismissal. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who is overseeing the Hunter Biden tax case, has yet to rule on a dismissal.