Special Counsel Objects To Dismissing Tax Case, Rebukes Biden’s Claims He Vindictively Prosecuted Hunter Biden

Special counsel David Weiss rejected suggestions that he selectively prosecuted Hunter Biden after President Biden announced his presidential pardon on Sunday.

Weiss also objected to dismissing charges following the unexpected presidential pardon.

“There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” Weiss wrote in court filings. 

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, according to The Hill.

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.”

On Sunday, Biden accused Republicans of unfair treatment and claimed Hunter was “treated differently” by prosecutors in a lengthy statement announcing the pardon. Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony firearm offenses in a Delaware trial earlier this year, and then pleaded guilty to multiple felony tax offenses in September. 

“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’s statement read.

Biden had previously denied any intent to pardon his son after Hunter was convicted earlier this year.

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.

Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced in the two cases later this month. 

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