Whaddaya gonna do, sue the president?
The post Hunter Biden Got Pardoned, And Special Counsel Weiss Is PISSED appeared first on Above the Law.
Hunter Biden (Photo by Moses Robinson/Getty Images for Usher’s New Look Foundation)
Last night President Biden pardoned his son for any and all crimes committed since January 1, 2014. But that’s not stopping Special Counsel David Weiss and his sidekick Leo Wise, who oppose dismissing of the cases against him on principal.
Hunter Biden was convicted on firearms charges in Delaware in June, related to a gun permit from 2018 on which he falsely denied being a habitual drug user. 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.
In an official statement, his father noted that “the charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them” and that those opponents openly took “credit for bringing political pressure on the process” that unraveled the plea deal negotiated last summer:
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. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
The ten-year period is important, since Trump’s henchmen will soon be controlling the Justice Department, and they’ve made no secret of their intention to try to prosecute the president’s son for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. In fact, the plea deal fell apart because Special Counsel David Weiss backed away from a promise that Biden would not be prosecuted for FARA if he pled to the gun and tax charges. Coincidentally, this change of heart came about roughly five minutes after Republicans in Congress complained about the “sweetheart deal.”
Last night, Hunter Biden docketed notice of the pardons in Delaware, where he’s charged with lying on a gun permit application, and California, where he’s charged with tax crimes.
“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,” his lawyer Abbe 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, who was appointed by Bill Barr, isn’t ready to give up the ghost just yet. In an opposition filed in California, he argued that “The defendant’s motion should be denied since there is no binding authority on this Court which requires dismissal.”
“As a matter of past-practice in this district, courts do not dismiss indictments when pardons are granted,” Weiss wrote, citing such luminaries as Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Joe Arpaio, and Ollie North. “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.”
And although Weiss purported not to have seen the pardon itself (which Lowell inexplicably failed to docket), he took particular umbrage at the suggestion that the prosecution was politically motivated, huffing that “The court similarly found [Biden’s] vindictive prosecution claims unmoored from any evidence or even a coherent theory as to vindictiveness.”
Judge Mark Scarsi of the Central District of California has taken no action, thus far. But in Delaware, Judge Maryellen Noreika said in a minute order that she intends to terminate the proceedings, and instructing the government to say by tomorrow if it objects to termination by dismissal. Presumably it does, although no objection has hit the docket as of this writing.
Meanwhile over at Truth Social, the guy who pardoned Vanky’s father-in-law for campaign finance violations and tax evasion and then named him ambassador to France has thoughts.
It’s gonna be a long four years.
US v. Biden [Delaware Docket via Court Listener]US v. Biden [California Docket via Court Listener]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she produces the Law and Chaos substack and podcast.
