Hunter Biden special counsel fires back at president’s claim that first son was ‘selectively and unfairly prosecuted’?
Special counsel David Weiss on Monday dismissed President Biden’s claim that his troubled son Hunter Biden was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” for federal tax and gun crimes.??
“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,” Weiss wrote in a filing with the US District Court for the Central District of California, arguing that the judge overseeing Hunter’s tax case shouldn’t dismiss the indictment against the first son despite the president’s pardon.
“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,” the special counsel added, noting that “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 of this district.”
Biden, 82, pardoned his disgraced 54-year-old son on Sunday on the basis that Hunter was “treated differently” by the president’s own Justice Department.?
“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” the president wrote in his pardon announcement.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the commander-in-chief added.?
Biden further argued that Weiss’ prosecution of Hunter amounted to a “miscarriage of justice.”
Weiss noted in his filing that judges in Hunter’s California tax case and Delaware gun trial rejected the “nonsensical” claim that his prosecution was selective.
“There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” Weiss wrote in the tax case filing.
“The defendant made similar baseless accusations in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware,” he added. “Those claims were also rejected. In explaining why, the Delaware court exposed the nonsensical nature of the defendant’s selective prosecution claims.”
In April, US District Judge Maryellen Noreika threw out Hunter’s bid to dismiss the federal gun charges against him, arguing that his claim of selective prosecution was “belied by the facts.
“The Executive Branch that charged Defendant is headed by that sitting President — Defendant’s father,” Norieka wrote. “The Attorney General heading the DOJ was appointed by and reports to Defendant’s father. And that Attorney General appointed the Special Counsel who made the challenged charging decision in this case — while Defendant’s father was still the sitting President.”
“Defendant’s claim is effectively that his own father targeted him for being his son, a claim that is nonsensical under the facts here,” she continued.
“Regardless of whether Congressional Republicans attempted to influence the Executive Branch, there is no evidence that they were successful in doing so and, in any event, the Executive Branch prosecuting Defendant was at all relevant times (and still is) headed by Defendant’s father,” Norieka added.
The first son pleaded guilty in September to nine counts related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes and was found guilty of three federal gun charges in June after he was charged with possession of a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs.
Hunter was scheduled to be sentenced for the gun case on Dec. 12 and for the tax case on Dec. 16.
