Left: President Joe Biden talks with his son Hunter Biden as he arrives at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta). Right: Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in his trial at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, Pool)
Hunter Biden's legal team released a report over the weekend that included a "stark warning" that the first son may face retribution at the hands of incoming President-elect Donald Trump. With the election of the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president, the "threat against Hunter is real," his lawyers claim. The report was released on Saturday ahead of President Joe Biden issuing a full federal pardon for his son on Sunday night.
The 52-page report, obtained by the Washington Post and Washington Examiner, laid out the criminal prosecutions that led to convictions for Hunter Biden.
"Here, in one place, is the complete and reprehensible history of the political persecution of Hunter Biden," one of Biden's lawyers, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. "This is a seven-year saga propelled by an unrelenting political desire to use a son to hurt his father."
With Trump coming to power in January, things could have become dicey for the president's son if he weren't pardoned. Per the Post, the report contains a timeline of the allegations against Hunter Biden.
"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," Lowell said.
Hunter Biden could have faced serious jail time for crimes ordinary citizens would not be prosecuted, his lawyers argue.
"There is no disputing that Trump has said his enemies list includes Hunter," the report says, according to the Post. "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."
The document also pointed out that Biden suffered from addiction at the time of his criminal activity.
"A system that is supposed to protect against abuses failed to do so and was corrupted by political leaders in this country," the document reportedly said. "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."
As Law&Crime previously reported, Biden was convicted in June of three felonies relating to gun possession dating back to 2018.He's slated to be sentenced on that case in the coming weeks.
In 2023, it had appeared that Biden's tax and gun charges would be resolved by a plea agreement, but when that deal fell apart, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David C. Weiss as special counsel, soon after leading to separate indictments on the West Coast and East Coast.
Then in September, Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax offenses in a California federal court. He was charged last year on nine tax-related accounts, including an accusation that he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016 through 2019.
In the gun case, the first charged count alleged that Biden "knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive" StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply to obtain a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver, averring that he was not an "unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false an fictitious."
The second count alleged that Biden falsely "certified" to the ATF on "Form 4473" that he was not an unlawful user of or addicted to drugs by checking the boxes "no."
The third count alleged that Biden illegally possessed the revolver from Oct. 12, 2018 to Oct. 23, 2018, an 11-day period, while "knowing" that he was an unlawful user of or addicted to drugs.
Jurors heard that Hallie Biden, Beau Biden's widow and the subsequent girlfriend of Hunter Biden, on Oct. 23, 2018, tossed the firearm in the garbage behind a grocery store located across the street from a high school in Delaware, but when she and Hunter went back to the scene later to retrieve the gun, it was gone. The gun was recovered and turned in days later by a man who had sifted through trash, Politico reported. No state charges were brought, but the federal case against Hunter did eventually come.
The jury also heard from the defendant's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, who reportedly testified about finding drug paraphernalia in Hunter's car in 2018, not knowing exactly when that year this allegedly took place. Biden ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan, CNN additionally reported, testified that she saw Hunter smoking crack the month before he bought the revolver.
The defense maintained that, despite its client's published crack addiction admissions, that the prosecution did not have solid proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hunter Biden, a trained lawyer, "knowingly" viewed himself as an addict after exiting rehab and buying the revolver at issue by lying. A jury quickly convicted Biden.
Marisa Sarnoff and Matt Naham contributed to this report.
Editor's note: This story now includes updated information that President Biden issued a pardon to his son.
