Prosecutor Slams Biden’s Pardon of Son in Blistering Final Report

While former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report on the criminal investigation into Donald Trump has occupied most of the media’s attention since its release on Monday afternoon, we saw another report from a DOJ official released yesterday that’s worth noting. 

David Weiss, the special counsel who prosecuted Hunter Biden for purchasing and possessing a handgun while an unlawful user of drugs, used his own final report to take aim at Joe Biden’s pardon of his son, as well as the contention by both Bidens that Hunter’s prosecution was politically motivated. 

The results obtained in the prosecutions of Mr. Eiden confirm that I faithfully adhered to the Principles of Federal Prosecution. In the gun case, a jury of twelve of Mr. Biden’s peers sitting in Delaware, his home state, unanimously found him guilty on all charges. In the tax case, by pleading guilty, Mr. Biden admitted that the facts supported all of the elements of the crimes alleged in the indictment. Not only were both cases proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but they resulted in a verdict lawfully rendered by a jury and an admission of guilt.

In making my decisions, I remained impervious to political influence at alltimes. However, Mr. Biden and his counsel have continuously accused me of vindictively and selectively prosecuting him. And in the press release accompanying his son’s pardon, President Biden echoed these claims, stating that hebelieved Mr. Biden was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” These baselessaccusations have no merit and repeating them threatens the integrity of the justice system as a whole.

Eight different Article III judges appointed by six different presidents-including Mr. Biden’s father-considered and rejected Mr. Biden’s claims that these prosecutions only came because of political pressure from Congressional Republicans. Indeed, two district courts held that Mr. Biden had not identified any evidence that he was being selectively or vindictively prosecuted.  Judge Scarsi stated that there were “no facts indicating that the Government undertook charging decisions in any respect because of public statements by politicians, let alone based on Defendant’s familial and political affiliations.” Judge Noreika likewise held that Mr. Biden offered “nothing credible to suggest that the conduct of [Republican] lawmakers (or anyone else) had any impact whatsoever on the Special Counsel.”

There’s no doubt that Hunter Biden violated federal law by purchasing a gun while he was addicted to crack cocaine, as well as lying about his drug use on the Form 4473 he filled out at the gun store. Though both Biden’s contended that prosecutions solely for violating § 922(g)(3) are unheard of, the DOJ brings dozens of these charges each year. and given the high-profile nature of Biden’s conduct Weiss would have been widely criticized if he’d given Hunter a pass. 

The question for many Second Amendment advocates is whether it should be a federal felony-level offense to possess a firearm while an “unlawful” user of drugs; a label that applies not only to those who use and abuse drugs like cocaine, heroin, and meth, but also the millions of Americans who consume marijuana in states where it’s been legalized for medicinal and/or recreational use. 

In his final report, Weiss didn’t lay out his thoughts on the appropriateness of § 922(g)(3), but he did explain why Biden’s prosecution was supported by “the principles of federal prosecution.” 

Weiss noted that prosecuting firearm offenses has been a “top priority” of the DOJ for years, and declared the seriousness of Biden’s actions warranted prosecution. 

At a time in his life when he was regularly engaging in illicit drug deals to purchase crack cocaine, Mr. Biden lied on federal background check forms and illegally bought a revolver, a speed loader, and hollow point bullets. Mr. Biden admitted in his memoir that, during that time period, he was “dependent not only on a criminal subculture to access what you need but the lowest rung of that subculture-the one with the highest probability of violence and depravity .” Mr. Biden also described an episode when he had a “gun pointed at [his] face.” Further, after Mr. Biden bought the revolver in October 2018, he carelessly left it unsecured on a property where children lived and in a vehicle that also contained crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. The fact that Mr. Biden’ s girlfriend tried to dispose of his firearm before violence resulted does not make his crimes any less serious.

Weiss went on to note that prosecutions under § 922(g)(3) are fairly common (though he didn’t mention how often those charges are tied to other alleged offenses), and argued that prosecuting Biden would have a deterrent effect on other drug users purchasing firearms at retail. Finally, Weiss argued that Hunter Biden should be held culpable for his actions, noting that “as a Yale-educated lawyer and businessperson, he understood that he was lying on the background check form he filled out and the consequences of doing so. But he did it anyway, because he wanted to own a gun, even though he was actively using crack cocaine.”

If anything, it’s Joe Biden’s pardon of his son that reeks of political opportunism. There are plenty of folks who’ve been convicted of those same crimes who haven’t been granted clemency or a pardon for their actions, and at this point there’s no reason to believe that Biden will take action on their behalf before he exits stage left. Biden himself swore he wouldn’t offer his son a pardon or clemency, but went back on his word while leaving others twisting in the wind… a disgraceful ending to a disgraceful four years in office.