Hunter Biden’s legal team is launching an assertive public defense of the president’s son just weeks before federal judges in Delaware and California prepare to sentence him this month, and as his father faces a diminishing window to pardon him if he chooses to do so despite previously ruling it out.

In a 52-page paper titled “The political prosecutions of Hunter Biden” released Saturday, Hunter Biden’s lawyers criticize the foundation of the investigations into their client, arguing that he was prosecuted for crimes that an ordinary citizen would not have been. Hunter Biden is likely to face further unfair threats when President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the lawyers contend.

The document at times seems aimed directly at President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly said that he will not pardon or commute the sentences of his son. Hunter has been with his father over the past several days in Nantucket, where the Biden family for decades has gathered for Thanksgiving.

“With the election now decided, the threat against Hunter is real,” the report asserts. It cites comments that Trump has made about targeting his opponents, along with remarks from congressional Republicans who for years have investigated Hunter and other Biden family members.

“There is no disputing that Trump has said his enemies list includes Hunter,” the report says. “The prospect that Trump will turn his vengeance on the Special Counsel prosecutors if they fail to take a harder line against Hunter no doubt exerts considerable pressure on them not to let up on Hunter.”

Both cases against Hunter Biden, for gun and tax offenses, were brought by special counsel David Weiss, whose office was staffed by attorneys from the Justice Department. That department will now be overseen by Trump and his attorney general.

Taken as a whole, the document largely rehashes past arguments made by Hunter Biden and his legal team, at times unsuccessfully in court. It includes a lengthy timeline of events since 2017 that the attorneys say demonstrate that federal prosecutors unfairly targeted the son of a prominent politician.

“Here, in one place, is the complete and reprehensible history of the political persecution of Hunter Biden,” Abbe Lowell, one of Hunter’s top attorneys, said in a statement. “This is a seven-year saga propelled by an unrelenting political desire to use a son to hurt his father.”

He added, “It is a wild and terrifying story that serves as a stark warning of what is to come as some of the same Republicans who targeted Hunter prepare to resume power and have stated their intention to use the government’s vast power to pursue their perceived enemies.”

The paper – which claims that Hunter Biden’s case “has been one of the most notorious and consequential political prosecutions in American history” – is being released just weeks before sentencing is scheduled in the two separate criminal cases, as some on Hunter Biden’s team worry that he will receive significant jail time.

Hunter Biden was convicted in June by a federal jury in Delaware for lying on a gun-purchase form in 2018 when he checked a box saying he was not using illegal drugs, as well as for illegally owning that weapon as a drug user for 11 days. Sentencing for those charges is scheduled for Dec. 12.

Separately, Hunter Biden pleaded guilty in September to nine federal tax charges, a last-minute plea that came just before jury selection was scheduled to begin in California. Sentencing for that charge is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Weiss has reject accusations that he pursued Hunter Biden for wrongdoing that would be treated more leniently if the offender did not belong to a famous political family.

“No one in this country is above the law. Everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant,” Weiss said in a statement after Biden was found guilty in the gun case. “However, Hunter Biden should be no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of the same conduct. The prosecution has been and will continue to be committed to this principle, and to the principles of federal prosecution in carrying out its responsibilities.”

Weiss was designated a special counsel to preserve his independence from a Justice Department overseen by Hunter Biden’s father. In July, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon suggested the entire process for naming special counsels was invalid as she dismissed an indictment against Trump related to his alleged mishandling classified documents.

Hunter Biden’s gun conviction carries a potential prison sentence, although some legal analysts say it is unlikely he will get one, given that he is a first-time offender who owned the gun for only 11 days and never used it. But the tax charges are more serious and – since the guilty verdict in the gun case made Hunter Biden a felon – the sentence could be harsher.

When he pleaded guilty to the tax offenses in September, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi asked Hunter Biden in court if he understood that the plea meant he could face up to 17 years in prison and fines of up to $1.3 million. Biden said he did.

The question of whether to pardon his son pits President Biden’s loyalty to his family against his pledge to reaffirm the public’s confidence in the independence of the justice system, which many Democrats blame Trump for weakening. The president has said publicly several times that he would not pardon or commute Hunter’s sentence, a position that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has reiterated.

“Our answer still stands,” she repeated on Nov. 7, just after the election. “Which is no.”

Many in the Bidens’ circle say prosecutors would never have gone after Hunter so aggressively if his father were not the president. The two sides were near a plea agreement at one point, but it fell apart in August 2023 amid scrutiny by a judge and complaints from Republicans.

Saturday’s document includes a timeline that shows how Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani tried to find information about Hunter in the lead-up to the 2020 election. It also cites the plea agreement that collapsed, saying it fell apart because Weiss – who was appointed a U.S. attorney by Trump and kept on by Biden – bowed to political pressure.

Central to the attorneys’ case are sweeping criticisms of the Department of Justice at a time when it was being run by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has served under President Biden.

“A system that is supposed to protect against abuses failed to do so and was corrupted by political leaders in this country,” the paper charges. “As a result, Hunter faces significant sentences for felonies and misdemeanors far beyond precedents of others committing less serious offenses or where civil resolutions or consent judgments are normally sought – all on the basis of his mistakes, made while in the throes of serious drug addiction.”

The legal team compiled the number of cases in which someone in Delaware was prosecuted for similar misstatements on a gun-purchase form. On one of the charges, 19 such cases have been prosecuted – but in every other instance the defendant was also charged with drug trafficking, possessed multiple firearms or had prior felony convictions. Hunter’s was the only case, the attorneys wrote, that did not include those aggravating factors.

They similarly argue that the tax evasion charges were “unprecedented for their scope and factual basis,” saying similar offenses are usually resolved with civil penalties rather than a criminal prosecution.

“Hunter fully paid his past-due taxes with interest and penalties in 2021 – over two years before any charges were brought,” his lawyers wrote. They cited several cases in which defendants had far higher tax bills, or did not repay them, yet were not criminally charged.

The lawyers also argue that Weiss was improperly designated as special counsel, and that their initial plea agreement with Weiss is still in force.

“The impact that the extraordinary and improper events described have had on Hunter and his family is obvious,” the report states. “However, the effect that partisan politics can have on what is supposed to be an independent prosecutorial decision-making process extends beyond Hunter’s case. Politics’ outsize role reveals a new page in the playbook of politicizing investigations and prosecutions.”

(c) Washington Post