Delaware Special Counsel David Weiss on Monday rejected Joe Biden’s blanket pardon of his son Hunter of all federal crimes dating back to 2014.
In light of his father’s “full and unconditional” pardon absolving him of all crimes between Jan. 1, 2014 to Dec. 1, 2024, Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell moved on Sunday to dismiss his tax fraud case.
“The President’s pardon moots Mr. Biden’s pending and yet to occur sentencing and entry of judgment in this case and requires an automatic dismissal of the Indictment with prejudice,” Lowell wrote, adding that “this Court must dismiss the Indictment against Mr. Biden with prejudice and adjourn all future proceedings in this matter.”
But Weiss pushed back, writing in a scathing California court filing that “the defendant’s motion should be denied since there is no binding authority on this Court which requires dismissal.”
BREAKING: Special Counsel David Weiss rejects Hunter Biden’s bid to dismiss his indictment, saying a pardon doesn’t erase the charges.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 2, 2024
pic.twitter.com/bczHNSPpw0
“Instead, it has been the practice of this court that once an Executive Grant of Clemency has been filed on the docket, the docket is marked closed, the disposition entry is updated to reflect the executive grant of clemency, and no further action is taken by the Court.”
“As a matter of past-practice in this district, courts do not dismiss indictments when pardons are granted,” he added.
Joe Biden claimed the DOJ cases against Hunter were politically motivated, saying, “I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden said.
Weiss challenged Biden’s “baseless” allegation, noting that several judges had already rejected Hunter’s claims of vindictive prosecution.
“Of note, the defendant argued that the indictment was a product of vindictive and selective prosecution. The Court rejected that claim finding that ‘[a]s the Court stated at the hearing, Defendant filed his motion without any evidence.’ And there was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” the filing said.
“The court similarly found [Biden’s] vindictive prosecution claims unmoored from any evidence or even a coherent theory as to vindictiveness.”
“In total, eleven (11) different Article III judges appointed by six (6) different presidents, including his father, considered and rejected the defendant’s claims, including his claims for selective and vindictive prosecution,” the filing added.
Weiss also noted that Lowell did not docket the pardon and argued Hunter’s indictments shouldn’t be dismissed based on Joe Biden’s false claims of “improper motive.”
The defendant did not docket the pardon nor has the government seen it. 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. 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. 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.
Hunter Biden was convicted on firearms charges in Delaware in June for lying on a gun permit application about his habitual drug use in 2018.
In September, he pled guilty in California to failing to pay his taxes on time between 2016 and 2019.
Sentencing was pending in both cases.
Read David Weiss’ court filing: