President Joe Biden pardoned his son despite previously assuring he would not do so. Legal experts, including a former U.S. attorney and federal prosecutor, have weighed in, suggesting that the charges against Hunter Biden likely would not have been pursued if he were an ordinary citizen.
Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade claimed that the pardon was "in the best interest of justice" as "most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him."
In an MSNBC interview, McQuade shared her perspective, claiming that the gun charge against Hunter Biden was unusual and unlikely to have been filed against another defendant. "In my 20 years as a prosecutor, I can recall filing that charge only once, and it was against someone who posed a significant danger and needed to be removed from the streets," she explained.
Regarding the tax charges, McQuade defended the president's decision saying federal prosecutors would not use their "scarce federal resources" to prosecute him considering he had already "entered a guilty plead" and "repaid the taxes, the interests, and the penalties."
Pardon of Hunter Biden is in the best interests of justice. Based on the facts, most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him. The botched misdemeanor guilty plea and sentence of diversion were a tell that the special counsel had the same assessment.…
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) December 2, 2024
Supporting McQuade's claims, former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg reacted to the pardon saying, "As SDNY [South District of New York] Criminal Division Deputy Chief, I was responsible for approving charges and non-prosecution requests. I wouldn't have approved Hunter Biden's tax or gun cases. If Hunter's last name wasn't Biden, I don't believe he would have been charged."
Greenberg's words echoed Biden's statement, in which he claimed "Hunter was singled out only because he is my son—and that is wrong."
Critics responded to McQuade's MSNBC appearance by citing the case of Darryl De Sousa, a former Baltimore Police Commissioner who was similarly charged for failing to file tax returns and sentenced to 10 months in federal prison by the same federal prosecutors handling Hunter Biden's case. De Sousa failed to pay $67,587.72 in federal taxes, while Hunter Biden was accused of owing $1.4 million.
The Biden brand of White House privilege apparently wasn't offered to Darryl De Sousa.
— Jason Foster (@JsnFostr) August 4, 2023
Same prosecutors. Different outcome. https://t.co/IuK7SciOs3 pic.twitter.com/UqYHbQSRdM
"Same prosecutors. Different outcome," Jason Foster, former Chief Investigative Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote on X. "The Biden brand of White House privilege apparently wasn't offered to Darryl De Sousa," he added.
In an interview with Fox News, Sousa said Biden's pardon "does send a very awful message" as "there's plenty of people that wish that they could get a pardon."
"It's hurtful to hear," he added. "You would think that the way our justice system is designed that it's fair and it's equitable whereas if someone has a felony or multiple felonies that they should face the consequences."
The pardon comes just weeks before Hunter Biden's scheduled sentencing and Donald Trump's January 20 inauguration. It encompasses any crimes or offenses Hunter Biden may have committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
Political observers claim the presidential pardon was also meant to protect Hunter Biden from possible political retribution coming from Trump. The Republican President-elect criticized Biden's move as "an abuse and miscarriage of justice."
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, told MSNBC, "The failed witch hunts against President Trump have proven that the Democrat-controlled DOJ and other radical prosecutors are guilty of weaponizing the justice system. That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people."
Notably, in 2021, Trump issued several pardons to his allies before leaving the White House, including Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom Trump recently appointed as U.S. ambassador to France.
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