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The Justice Department’s special counsel, whose six-year case against Hunter Biden was ended by the unconditional pardon President Joe Biden granted to his son last month, criticized the outgoing president in his final report Monday.
As part of a 280-page report, Special Counsel David Weiss criticized President Biden for making “unwarranted and false” accusations that the long-running investigation was unfair and tainted by politics. When the president pardoned his son last month, he said Hunter Biden was the victim of a “selective” prosecution that was “unfair” and a “miscarriage of justice.”
“Other presidents have granted pardons to family members, but none has used this as an opportunity to smear Justice Department officials based solely on wrongful convictions,” Weiss said in the report. Ta.
“Far from being selective, these prosecutions embody the equal application of justice, and 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. ” he added.
“Politicians who attack career prosecutors’ decisions as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine public confidence in our criminal justice system,” the report said. The President’s statement unfairly impugns the integrity of not only Justice Department officials, but all public servants who make these difficult decisions in good faith. ”
Weiss also cited a federal judge who handled Hunter Biden’s tax case who accused him of “rewriting history” on similar grounds after the president granted him a full pardon.
CNN previously reported on false and inaccurate claims Joe Biden made to justify the pardon in an interview with USA Today earlier this month. Some of Hunter Biden’s factual claims in the gun case are contradicted by evidence and trial testimony.
The presidential pardon protects his son from any prosecution stemming from federal crimes he may have committed between 2014 and December 2024. Therefore, “in light of this pardon,” Weiss said the report “does not include a legal analysis of:” Beyond the 12 tax and gun crimes that Hunter Biden was charged with in 2023, additional charges were warranted.
“What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a wake-up call against the abuse of prosecutorial power,” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abby Lowell said in a statement Monday.
Rowell criticized several key decisions by Weiss, including his attempt to wind down the investigation with a negotiated plea deal in 2023. The deal was supposed to avoid a trial, but it fell apart under scrutiny from federal judges and Republican leaders.
Mr. Weiss also has not explained why he reneged on his agreement, but the reversal occurred in the court’s 11th hour as Mr. Weiss and his office faced intense attacks from Republicans. ” he said.
Weiss had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, when he was a Delaware attorney appointed by Donald Trump. After Joe Biden became president, as is often the case, he let Weiss finish the job while replacing nearly every other U.S. attorney.
Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated Weiss to the rank of “special prosecutor” in 2023 after Hunter Biden’s proposed plea deal collapsed in court.
In an opening note at the beginning of his report, Weiss thanked Garland “for allowing (his) office to conduct an independent investigation and prosecution.” The memo refutes Republican claims that Garland, a Biden appointee, intervened in the investigation to protect the Bidens.
During his investigation, Weiss indicted two people: Hunter Biden and Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant who falsely accused Hunter and his father of accepting $10 million in bribes from Ukraine. House Republicans used those arguments to shore up their failed impeachment push.
Mr. Smirnov was sentenced last week to six years in prison.
During Mr. Weiss’ investigation, he made history by becoming the first prosecutor in American history to bring criminal charges against the son of a sitting president. Hunter Biden was found guilty by a jury of three charges related to the illegal purchase and possession of a firearm while abusing illegal drugs.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin defends President Biden’s decision to grant a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter.
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Sen. Durbin defends Hunter Biden pardon as ‘a labor of love’
Mr. Weiss also filed nine federal tax charges against Mr. Biden, who pleaded guilty on the first day of his September trial. He admitted to tax evasion, filing false tax returns, and failing to pay taxes on time.
Hunter Biden was never sentenced on these charges because he was pardoned by his father after the November election, bypassing court proceedings.
Special Counsel Weiss’ investigation has been surrounded by allegations of politicization from both sides. He has previously denied that his activities have been hampered by political interference.
The Biden family and some Democrats have accused Weiss of unfairly targeting Hunter Biden, following Trump’s orders and bowing to Hunter Biden’s demands for his indictment. But many Republicans argued that Weiss offered Hunter Biden a sweetheart deal that, if it hadn’t collapsed, would have kept his crimes in the dark.
In his report, Weiss said he “ignored” politicians who have repeatedly been involved in the Hunter Biden investigation and focused on “the facts and the law” while prosecuting the president’s son.
“I also never thought about whether my decisions would be viewed favorably or unfavorably by politicians,” Weiss wrote. “And when politicians gave their opinions on my actions, I ignored them because they were irrelevant.Simply put, my decisions were based on the facts and the law. It wasn’t based on anything else.”
Despite the fact that officials from both parties criticized Weiss on various aspects of the investigation, his report only condemned Joe Biden’s comments about the investigation by name.
The report cited Republican lawmakers who called for Weiss’ resignation and sought to overturn the plea deal he negotiated with Hunter Biden in 2023, as well as a former IRS investigator who claimed Weiss’ investigation was riddled with misconduct. He did not mention who held public hearings with officials and pressured the FBI. Released documents about information now known to be true from an informant that the Biden family received large bribes from Ukraine.
The report includes about 30 pages of new material and about 250 pages of court filings that were part of the public record in Hunter Biden’s gun and tax case.
Ironically, Weiss said one of the reasons Hunter Biden was charged with gun crimes was because President Biden’s administration has prioritized gun control and increased penalties for some gun crimes.
Weiss pointed to the bipartisan Safe Zones Act that Biden signed in 2022 and various Biden-era gun control measures. “It also includes federal law enforcement efforts and activities to achieve the priorities of the United States.” at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
For years, Republicans have pushed unproven accusations that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden engaged in illegal overseas business dealings. In a report released Monday, Weiss said Hunter Biden had “no co-conspirators” in the financial crimes prosecutors investigated from 2018 to 2024.
Although Weiss spoke narrowly about the specific federal tax charges filed against Hunter Biden, his report notes that prosecutors never accused Joe Biden of any wrongdoing. But it was yet another reminder that Joe Biden never supported Republican claims that he and his son were involved in a plot to spread illegal influence.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Evan Perez contributed to this report.
