Hunter Biden knew exactly what he was doing when he committed felonies related to gun possession and not paying his taxes, special counsel David Weiss argued in his final report of outgoing President Joe Biden’s son.
After a sweeping pardon in December, the president sought to cast his son in a sympathetic light. Weiss—who led convictions of Hunter Biden on a gun charge in Delaware and on tax charges in California—was having none of it and defended his investigation.
“As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period,” Weiss’ final report says.
“From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” the report continues. “In addition, in 2020, Mr. Biden received approximately $1.2 million in financial support from a personal friend. Mr. Biden made this money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate.”
With regard to Hunter Biden’s conviction for lying on a federal gun purchase form about his drug use (drug users are not allowed to purchase firearms), the report also dismissed excuses.
“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,” the report says. “But he did it anyway, because he wanted to own a gun, even though he was actively using crack cocaine.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the 27-page Weiss report, totaling 278 pages with the appendix of evidence, came under criticism. But after the president granted a sweeping pardon to his son for all potential crimes, known and unknown, for an 11-year period, the report is likely the last word.
In a widely published statement, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said Weiss “pursued wild—and debunked—conspiracies” and asserted, “What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power.”
House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., whose committee investigated the Biden family overseas dealings, called the Weiss report “incomplete.”
“This sweeping pardon prevents the special counsel from holding Hunter Biden accountable for the international influence peddling racket only made possible by Joe Biden. Let’s be clear: The Biden DOJ [Department of Justice] was never going to prosecute the Biden Crime Family,” Comer said in a post on X. “The House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the Bidens’ influence-peddling schemes revealed how Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name.”
Much of the Weiss report is devoted to defending the investigation against President Biden’s allegation of partisanship. The prosecutor contends decisions were “duly considered and made in good faith.”
“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,” the Weiss report says.
When Biden pardoned his son, he said in a statement that the prosecution was politically motivated.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son—and that is wrong,” the president’s Dec. 1 statement said. “There has been an effort to break Hunter—who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me—and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”
The Weiss report refers to that statement: “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 report later adds, “Prosecutions were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.”
“Eight judges across numerous courts have rejected claims that they were the result of selective or vindictive motives,” the Weiss report says. “Calling those rulings into question and injecting partisanship into the independent administration of the law undermines the very foundation of what makes America’s justice system fair and equitable.”
