A federal judge in Delaware has formally dismissed the gun case against Hunter Biden after President Joe Biden gave his son a broad pardon without following the usual procedures of the Justice Department. Hunter Biden had been convicted by a jury in June on three gun charges related to purchasing a revolver while addicted to illegal drugs. The pardon, granted by President Biden during the Thanksgiving holiday, covered any federal crimes Hunter Biden may have committed from 2014 through the end of this year.
The pardon for Hunter Biden was seen as highly unusual, as it was not processed through the Justice Department’s pardon office, which has been responsible for clemency applications for over 130 years. Legal experts noted that this pardon was one of the most sweeping since former President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon in 1974. Critics, including former U.S. pardon attorney Margaret Love, raised concerns about the bypassing of the Justice Department in granting such a broad pardon.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, requested the dismissal of the gun case following the pardon, arguing that a pardon releases the wrongdoer from punishment and restores their civil rights. However, the prosecutor, Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, opposed the request, arguing that the grand jury’s decision should not be dismissed as if it never occurred. Similar requests for dismissal are now pending in a tax case against Hunter Biden in Los Angeles, where he pleaded guilty in September to not paying taxes on time for several years.
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