President Joe Biden’s pardon for his son Hunter means that Hunter’s two criminal cases will not result in a conviction. But special counsel David Weiss has fought the defense to get the gun and tax charges officially dismissed in Delaware and California.
In support of his opposition, Weiss cited the administration’s previous objection to dismissing charges against Steve Bannon when Donald Trump pardoned Bannon during his first term. Weiss noted that the prosecutor in Bannon’s case did not dispute that the pardon ended the case, but still maintained that there was no need to drop the charges; Rather, the prosecutor in Bannon’s case said the court should disqualify Bannon as a defendant and that the pardon should be the reason for ending his case. As Hunter Biden’s counsel emphasized in response to Weiss’ opposition, the judge in Bannon’s case dismissed his charges over the government’s objection.
Nevertheless, the post-pardon process means that judges in California and Delaware will have to decide how to formally bury Hunter’s cases, even though they are both effectively dead from a legal perspective. Although the California judge has not yet made a decision, the Delaware judge on Tuesday entered an order stating that all proceedings have ended because of the pardon, but without stating that the charges have been dismissed:
After considering the parties’ submissions… and in the absence of binding precedent, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant Robert Hunter Biden, pursuant to the Executive Grant of Clemency signed by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on December 1, 2024, pardoned for, among other things, the crimes for which a jury returned a verdict in this case… As such, all proceedings in this case are hereby terminated.
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This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
