Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, arrives for his trial at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 07, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware.(Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The special prosecutor who led the investigation into Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, has responded to the president’s recent “baseless accusations” regarding the case.
In his final report released on Monday, David Weiss defended his handling of the investigation, calling it “impartial” and “not partisan politics.”
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Hunter Biden’s legal team argued that Weiss’s report highlights the abuse of prosecutorial power, describing the case as a cautionary tale.
President Biden had granted a full pardon to his son in December, who had been facing sentencing for tax and gun-related crimes. While the president called the charges a “miscarriage of justice” and politically motivated, Weiss rejected these claims as “gratuitous and wrong,” affirming that the prosecution was based on legitimate legal violations.
Hunter Biden had previously pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion in September and was convicted for gun-related felonies in June. Despite initially stating he wouldn’t offer clemency, President Biden issued an unconditional pardon, citing personal and political attacks against his son.
US President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden
This move follows similar presidential pardons in the past, including Bill Clinton’s pardon of his half-brother Roger Clinton and Donald Trump’s pardon of his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner. Weiss acknowledged these precedents but emphasized that no prior pardon had been used as an opportunity to attack public servants at the Department of Justice based on false accusations.
While Hunter Biden had been facing up to 17 years in prison for tax fraud and 25 years for the gun charges, the president’s pardon covers the period from January 2014 to December 2024, including the charges for which Hunter was convicted. Weiss noted that, due to the pardon, no further charges could be pursued for that period.
Throughout the investigation, Hunter Biden’s personal struggles, including addiction and controversial financial dealings, were brought into the public eye, drawing political ire from both sides. Democrats decried the investigation as politically motivated, while Republicans believed it lacked aggression in pursuing charges.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, criticized Weiss for the collapse of a plea deal in 2023, which Republicans had dubbed a “sweetheart deal” that would have allowed Hunter to plead guilty to tax evasion and avoid the more serious gun charges. Lowell questioned why Weiss reversed the deal, which he argued was influenced by partisan pressure.
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