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After a federal judge dismissed the gun case against Hunter Biden US President Joe Biden has issued a sweeping pardon for his son.
OUR District Judge Maryellen Noreika closed the case on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEDT) a week before Hunter Biden was sentenced. He could have faced up to 25 years in prison, although as a first offender he would likely get far less time or avoid prison altogether.
Prosecutors opposed the dismissal of the case, arguing court documents that a pardon should not erase the case “as if it never existed.”
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Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies after he lied on a federal gun purchase form in Delaware saying he was not an addict in 2018, the period he admitted to being an addict.
The Justice Department’s special prosecutor is also opposing the dismissal of a case filed in California after he failed to pay $1.4 million ($2.2 million) in taxes. A federal judge in Los Angeles has not yet ruled in the case.
The president’s decision Sunday to backtrack on previous promises and grant his son a blanket federal pardon for his actions over the past 11 years has sparked a political uproar in Washington, drawing criticism from many Democrats and Republicans and threatening to eclipse Biden’s legacy as he prepares to leave office on Jan. 20.
Hunter Biden was originally supposed to take a plea deal with prosecutors last year that would have spared him prison time, but the deal fell through after Noreika questioned its unusual aspects.
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