Breaking: Biden's Own DOJ Rejects Hunter Pardon, Denies It's Legitimate

In an unexpected legal development, special counsel David Weiss submitted a motion in the California federal court overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case, requesting that the judge not dismiss the charges despite President Joe Biden’s recently announced pardon on Sunday.

The presidential pardon covers offenses committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Dec. 1, 2024. This includes Hunter Biden’s jury-trial convictions in June for falsifying a federal form by concealing his drug use when purchasing a firearm. Additionally, it encompasses his September conviction on nine charges related to failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.

Hunter Biden faced a potential 17-year prison sentence for the tax-related charges.

“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” President Biden asserted in a statement accompanying the pardon announcement.

In a filing submitted Monday to a federal district court in California, Weiss countered, stating, “There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case.”

He further elaborated, “The defendant [Hunter Biden] made similar baseless accusations in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Those claims were also rejected.”

Weiss emphasized that “eleven different [federal] judges appointed by six different presidents, including his father, considered and rejected the defendant’s claims, including his claims for selective and vindictive prosecution.”

The special counsel’s office urged the court not to dismiss the tax charges outright but to instead close the docket while noting the pardon.

“[I]t 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,” Weiss noted.

He also mentioned that Hunter Biden had not yet filed the pardon with the court, and his office had not received it.

“If media reports are accurate, the Government does not challenge that the defendant has been the recipient of an act of mercy. But that does not mean the grand jury’s decision to charge him, based on a finding of probable cause, should be wiped away as if it never occurred,” Weiss wrote.

He added, “It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive. No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”

Mark Osler, a presidential pardon expert at the University of St. Thomas, explained to ABC News that Weiss’s filing highlights “a technical issue — either way, the case goes away — but an important one.”

“[Prosecutors] want the indictment to remain on the record,” Osler stated.

The Hill noted that U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, presiding over Hunter Biden’s tax case in California, has not yet issued a ruling on the matter.

The outlet also reported that U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, handling Hunter Biden’s gun case in Delaware, indicated her intent to terminate the proceedings once the pardon is formally filed. However, she asked Weiss to clarify whether his office would object to dismissal in that case as well.