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Special counsel objects to dismissing Hunter Biden tax case after pardon
Special counsel David Weiss rejected suggestions that he selectively prosecuted Hunter Biden in court filings where he also objected to dismissing charges following a sweeping pardon.
President Biden granted his son a “full and unconditional pardon” Sunday evening, making a stark about-face on previous vows to let his son’s convictions on federal gun and tax crimes stand. In announcing the pardon, President Biden in a statement claimed “raw politics … infected” his son’s case.
"There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case," Weiss wrote in court filings.
Weiss’s remarks come in response to Hunter Biden’s notification to a federal court in California of his pardon, where the younger Biden is seeking the dismissal of his tax case there. Hunter Biden made a similar request in Delaware, where he was convicted on federal gun charges over the summer.
In the filing, the special counsel argued the charges should not be automatically dismissed with prejudice; instead, the court should end all proceedings and close the case by merely reflecting a pardon as the final disposition. The difference appears largely procedural.
But in furthering the government’s argument, Weiss contended that the pardon does not absolve Hunter Biden of his guilt nor point to any defect in his indictment. He also noted the government has yet to see the official pardon.
“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,” 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 of this district.”
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who is overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case in California, has not yet ruled on dismissal.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, the federal judge in Delaware overseeing Hunter Biden’s gun case, said she intends to terminate the proceedings against him once the pardon is docketed but asked Weiss to inform her whether his office objects to dismissal in that case, too.
Soon after, Weiss filed a similar filing in the Delaware case opposing dismissal of the indictment.
Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced in the two cases later this month.
Updated 3:58 p.m. ET
Read more at The Hill
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