(NewsNation) — Special counsel Davis Weiss has filed a document objecting to efforts by Hunter Biden’s attorneys to dismiss his case now that he has been pardoned.
President Joe Biden issued the pardon for his son on Sunday, a reversal of his previous position. The White House has said the president changed his mind because he believes his son was singled out for political reasons.
Biden’s attorneys filed for his case to be dismissed following the pardon.
Weiss argues that while Hunter Biden has been pardoned, the case is not erased.
“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. 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,” the filing reads. “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. For the foregoing reasons, the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment should be denied.”
You can read the full document below:
In his clemency announcement, the president called his son’s treatment a “miscarriage of justice” and pointed to political motivation behind his son’s charges.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Biden said in a statement.
Hunter Biden was found guilty of lying on a federal firearms application in June and pleaded guilty to tax charges.
Republicans have criticized Biden’s pardon and the shift from his previous statements.
House Republicans sought to make Hunter Biden’s business a central part of its impeachment inquiry into President Biden. But their report failed to uncover a smoking gun, instead relying on largely debunked threads, disputed testimony, and circumstantial evidence that failed to directly tie any official action from President Biden to his family’s business dealings.
NewsNation’s Anna Kutz contributed to this report.
