Prosecutor who investigated Hunter Biden defends probes

Hunter Biden (Rod Lamkey, Jr/AP)

The criminal charges against Hunter Biden “were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics”, the prosecutor who led the probes has said in a report that criticised President Joe Biden for having maligned the Justice Department when he pardoned his son.

“Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations,” said the report from David Weiss, whose team filed gun and tax charges against the younger Biden that resulted in felony convictions that were subsequently wiped away by a presidential pardon.

The report is the culmination of years-long investigations into Hunter Biden that pre-dated the arrival of attorney general Merrick Garland but became among the most politically explosive inquiries of his entire tenure, capturing Republican fascination on Capitol Hill and ultimately producing a fissure between the Justice Department and the White House over the treatment of the president’s son.

The president’s characterisations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and, on a more fundamental level, they are wrong

The document, as is customary for reports prepared by Justice Department special counsels, provides a recap of the investigative findings.

But it is most notable for its steadfast defence of the team’s work and for its sharp criticism of the president over remarks he made when pardoning his son last month.

Mr Biden had repeatedly pledged that he would not pardon his son but contended that such an action was warranted because of what he called a “miscarriage of justice” and a selective prosecution.

He said he believed that his son had been treated “differently” on account of his last name and that “raw politics” had infected the decision making of Mr Weiss’s team.

“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,” Mr Biden said.

Mr Weiss, who served as US attorney for Delaware during the Trump administration and was kept in his position by Mr Garland before being named to the role of special counsel in 2023, took exception to those comments and noted that judges had rejected that assessment as well.

“The president’s characterisations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and, on a more fundamental level, they are wrong,” Mr Weiss wrote.

Far from selective, these prosecutions were the embodiment of the equal application of justice - no matter who you are, or what your last name is, you are subject to the same laws as everyone else in the United States

He also noted: “These prosecutions were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.”

The investigations, which Hunter Biden himself revealed in 2020 when he disclosed that he had received a subpoena related to his business dealings, took a tortured path towards resolution.

He was to have entered a plea in 2023 to a federal gun charge but the deal fell apart in spectacular fashion among a last-minute disagreement between his lawyers and federal prosecutors.

He went to trial on that charge in Delaware last year and was convicted.

He separately pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in California before being pardoned.

The president’s claims that Hunter Biden was mistreated by the criminal justice system echoed in some ways arguments from the younger Biden’s legal team, who argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to indict Hunter after the collapse of what Donald Trump and other Republicans called a “sweetheart” plea deal.

Not so, said Mr Weiss.

“Far from selective, these prosecutions were the embodiment of the equal application of justice – no matter who you are, or what your last name is, you are subject to the same laws as everyone else in the United States,” Mr Weiss said.