WASHINGTON: The lawyer for US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter filed to dismiss indictments against him, after his father issued a pardon earlier that day that spans a decade.

The president’s full and unconditional pardon “requires dismissal of the indictment against” Hunter Biden, his lawyer wrote in filings late Sunday related to criminal tax and gun cases against him.

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty in September to federal tax charges in federal court in Los Angeles and was due to be sentenced Dec 16 under Mark C. Scarsi, a judge nominated by Republican President-elect Donald Trump.

A jury found him guilty in June of making false statements on a gun background check; he was due to be sentenced this week.

Biden issued the official pardon for Hunter on Sunday. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the president said in a statement.

The move is sure to bring about fresh scrutiny over the independence of the US judicial system — especially at a time when incoming president Donald Trump has moved to appoint loyalists to the FBI and Justice Department himself.

Joe Biden, who is in the final weeks of his presidency before Trump takes office on January 20, had repeatedly said he wouldn’t pardon his son.

“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,” President Biden said.

“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” he added.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2024