By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. special prosecutor who prosecuted Democratic President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, called the president’s criticism of the cases “unfounded and wrong” in a final report on his investigation released on Monday.
Special prosecutor David Weiss opened a case against Hunter Biden for lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018 and for evading $1.4 million in taxes.
Joe Biden pardoned his son in December for those offenses and other conduct over an 11-year period after previously promising not to. In issuing the pardons, Biden said the cases were unduly influenced by “crude politics.”
“This statement is unnecessary and wrong,” Weiss wrote in his final report.
The criticism “undermines the very foundations of what makes the American justice system fair and just,” Weiss wrote. “It erodes public confidence in an institution that is crucial to preserving the rule of law.”
Justice Department regulations require special counsels, who are appointed to give sensitive investigations a degree of independence from department leadership, to submit a final report at the end of their investigation.
Weiss, who had completed his investigation, used the report to give a scathing defense of Hunter Biden’s cases and hit back at Joe Biden’s criticism.
Hunter Biden was found guilty in June after a trial in federal court in Delaware on gun charges and later pleaded guilty to tax charges in Los Angeles.
Weiss secured indictments in both cases after a plea deal that likely would have allowed Hunter Biden to avoid prison time untangled in 2023 after questioning by a federal judge.
Hunter Biden, who has spoken publicly about his struggle with drug addiction, has faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers for years, particularly over his foreign affairs.
Hunter Biden and his legal team have repeatedly argued that political pressure forced Weiss to abandon plea negotiations and instead pursue indictments that carried far greater legal risk.
They argued that the tax and gun cases are cases that federal prosecutors would not normally pursue.
Weiss spent years investigating Hunter Biden, first as the U.S. attorney in Delaware appointed by President-elect Donald Trump in his first term, and later as a special counsel during the Joe Biden administration.
“I prosecuted two cases against Mr. Biden for violating the law,” Weiss wrote in the report.
