The Associated Press reports here that “President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.” This post discusses President Biden’s decision. The criminal cases against Hunter Biden. Federal authorities began investigating Hunter Biden for possible tax crimes as early as 2018. The investigation was coordinated through the United States Attorney’s Office in Delaware. After Hunter Biden published a memoir detailing his addiction to crack cocaine, investigators also began to consider whether Hunter Biden had committed any federal gun crimes, such as possession of a gun by a person who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance” in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). In 2023, Hunter Biden and David Weiss, the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, reached an agreement to conclude the investigations. Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses, with the prosecution recommending a probationary sentence, and to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement as to a felony charge of possession of a firearm by a drug user. However, the district court judge to whom the matter was assigned was concerned with some unusually broad terms in the deferral agreement. She did not immediately accept the plea deal, and it subsequently fell apart. Weiss was then designated as a Special Counsel with authority to bring charges [...]
Faculty Coordinators
