President Biden unfairly attacked the integrity of the justice system by criticizing the long-running federal investigations into his son Hunter Biden, to whom he granted a federal pardon, according to the outgoing special counsel who led the cases.
“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,” special counsel David Weiss wrote in a report released Monday.
“Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” the report added. “The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
In December, Biden pardoned Hunter, who was facing sentencing on federal gun and tax evasion charges, despite the president previously claiming he would not take such a step.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the president said of the decision. “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.”
The pardons covered the existing cases and any future prosecutions over potential crimes committed between 2014 and 2024.
As recently as the month before the pardon announcement, the White House maintained that Biden would not intervene on behalf of his son.
Weiss, who first began investigating Hunter Biden in 2018 as the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for Delaware and later became a special counsel, wrote in his report that “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.”
The special counsel added in the report that it would be “inappropriate” to discuss additional charges.
In 2023, a plea deal collapsed that would’ve seen Hunter Biden plead guilty to a negotiated misdemeanor tax charge and have his ugn charges dimissed in a diversion agreement.
An Internal Revenue Dervice investigator who worked on the Biden probe alleges Hunter Biden received special treatment.
“We have to make sure as a special agent for IRS Criminal Investigation that we treat every single person exactly the same,” Gary Shapley told CBS News. “And that just simply didn’t happen here.”
Weiss and the DOJ have denied that Biden got special treatment.
