The special prosecutor who led the years-long investigation into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, criticized the president for making “baseless allegations” about the case and defended his investigation in a final report.
In the report, released Monday, David Weiss called his prosecution of the president’s son on gun and tax charges “impartial” and “nonpartisan politics.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyer said the report showed the Weiss investigation “was a cautionary tale about the abuse of prosecutorial power.”
In early December, Biden issued an official pardon for his son, who was facing two criminal charges.
In issuing the pardon, the president said his son had been “singled out” and called his cases a “miscarriage of justice” and “crude politics.”
Mr. Weiss called the statements “gratuitous and wrong.”
“I initiated proceedings against two cases [Hunter] Biden because he broke the law,” he wrote in his report.
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges earlier in September, and was found guilty of illegal drug use and gun possession in June.
The full and unconditional pardon of his father for his son came after the president repeatedly said he would not pardon him.
It was not the first time that the American president pardoned a family member.
In 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his younger half-brother, Roger Clinton, for a 1985 cocaine-related offense.
In 2020, Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, father-in-law of his daughter Ivanka, who pleaded guilty to federal charges of tax evasion and illegal campaign donations in 2005.
In his report Mr. Weiss acknowledged this, but added, “no one has taken this opportunity as an opportunity to denigrate public officials in the Department of Justice based solely on false allegations.”
Hunter Biden pleaded guilty in September to nine counts of federal tax fraud, for which he faced up to 17 years in prison.
He was also convicted of three felonies related to the gun purchase in June, for which he faced up to 25 years in prison.
Investigations into the president’s son have once again revealed embarrassing and embarrassing details about his personal life, including his crack cocaine addiction and alleged payments to followers.
President Biden has remained largely silent during the investigation into his son, but has fiercely defended him during the pardon.
“There have been efforts to break Hunter — who has been sober for five and a half years, even in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” President Biden said.
“In trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me—and there’s no reason to believe they’ll stop there. Enough is enough.”
He added: “I hope the American people will understand why a father and president would make this decision.”
The pardon covers the period from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024, “including but not limited to” the tax and gun crimes he was convicted of.
Mr. Weiss said that because of that unconditional pardon, he could not make any “additional charging decisions” regarding Hunter Biden during that period.
“It would be out of place to discuss whether the additional fees are justified,” he said.
Mr. Weiss has previously defended his investigation into the president’s son.
In 2023 he told the House Judiciary Committee there was never any political pressure or interference in his work from the Ministry of Justice.
Mr. Weiss’s investigation into Hunter Biden has been closely watched on both sides of the political spectrum.
Democrats said it was politically charged and that they felt Hunter Biden had an unfair target on his back.
Republicans believe the Justice Department has not been aggressive enough in pursuing charges and has unfairly favored the president’s son.
Hunter Biden was found guilty after a failed plea deal in 2023.
A judge refused to approve a deal — which Republicans called a “sweetheart deal” — in which Hunter Biden would have pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges to avoid more serious gun-related charges.
In a statement released Monday, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, criticized Mr. Weiss because of the failed deal.
“Mr. Weiss also fails to explain why he reneged on his own agreement, an 11th-hour reversal in court as he and his office faced fierce attacks from Republicans,” Mr. Lowell.
