By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. special counsel who prosecuted Democratic President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden called the president's criticism of the charges “misleading and wrong” in the final report of his investigation published on Monday.
Special counsel David Weiss brought charges against Hunter Biden for lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018 and evading $1.4 million in taxes.
Joe Biden pardoned his son in December for those offenses and other conduct over an 11-year period after earlier promising not to. In issuing the pardon, Biden said the cases were unduly influenced by “crude politics.”
“This report is untrue and incorrect,” Weiss wrote in his final statement.
The criticism “undermines the foundation of what makes the American justice system fair and equitable,” Weiss wrote. “It erodes public confidence in an important law enforcement agency.”
Department of Justice regulations require special counsels, appointed to give sensitive investigations a degree of independence from department leadership, to submit a final report at the end of their investigation.
Weiss, who has concluded his investigation, used the report to issue a clear defense of Hunter Biden's charges and also responded to Joe Biden's criticisms.
Hunter Biden was found guilty in June after a trial in federal court in Delaware on gun charges and later pleaded guilty to a tax charge in Los Angeles.
Weiss defended the charges in both cases after a plea deal that would have allowed Hunter Biden to avoid prison time in 2023 under questioning from a federal judge.
Hunter Biden, who has spoken publicly as he battles drug addiction, has faced years of scrutiny from Republican lawmakers, particularly over his foreign business dealings.
Hunter Biden and his legal team have repeatedly alleged that political pressure forced Weiss to drop negotiations and instead pursue high-risk legal charges.
They argued that tax and gun cases were not routinely pursued by federal prosecutors.
Weiss has investigated Hunter Biden for years, first as the U.S. attorney in Delaware appointed by President-elect Donald Trump in his first term and later as a special counsel during the Joe Biden administration.
“I prosecuted these two cases against Mr. Biden because he broke the law,” Weiss wrote in a statement.