Hunter Biden’s legal team issued a report over the weekend, including a “stark warning” that the first son may face retribution from incoming President-elect Donald Trump. With the election of the 45th and soon-to-be 47th presidents, the “threat against Hunter is real,” according to his lawyers.
President Joe Biden released the report on Saturday, coinciding with his son’s full federal pardon on Sunday night.
The Washington Post and Washington Examiner obtained the 52-page report, which detailed the criminal prosecutions that led to Hunter Biden’s conviction.
“Here, in one place, is the complete and reprehensible history of Hunter Biden’s political persecution,” one of Biden’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. An unrelenting political desire to use a son to hurt his father has propelled this seven-year saga.
If the president’s son hadn’t received a pardon after Trump took office in January, things might have become complicated. According to 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 told reporters.
Hunter Biden could have faced serious jail time for crimes that ordinary citizens would not have been charged with, according to his lawyers.
Related coverage:
“There is no disputing that Trump has said his enemies list includes Hunter,” the report states, according to the Post. “The possibility of Trump retaliating against the special counsel prosecutors if they don’t adopt a more aggressive stance against Hunter undoubtedly exerts significant pressure on them to continue their pursuit of him.”
The document also stated that Biden struggled with addiction during 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,” according to the paperwork.
“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.”
Previously reported that Biden’s conviction for three felonies related to gun possession from 2018 occurred in June. The coming weeks will see his sentence in that case.
When a plea agreement failed to resolve Biden’s tax and gun charges in 2023, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David C. Weiss as special counsel, leading to separate indictments on the West and East coasts.
Then, in September, Biden pleaded guilty to nine tax offenses in federal court in California. Last year, a federal court in California charged him with nine tax-related offenses, including failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes.
The first charge in the gun case said that Biden “knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive” StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in order to get a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver.
He said that he was not an “illegal user of and addicted to any stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance,” even though he knew that the statement was false and made up.
The second count alleged that Biden falsely “certified” to the ATF on “Form 4473” that he was not an illegal drug user or addict by checking the boxes “no.”
The third count alleged that Biden illegally possessed the revolver for 11 days, from Oct. 12, 2018, to Oct. 23, 2018, while “knowing” that he was an illegal drug user or addict.
Jurors heard that on Oct. 23, 2018, Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s widow and Hunter Biden’s subsequent girlfriend, threw the firearm in the garbage behind a grocery store across the street from a high school in Delaware, but when she and Hunter returned to retrieve the gun later, it had vanished.
According to Politico, a man who sifted through trash recovered the gun and turned it in days later. Despite the absence of state charges, Hunter ultimately encountered a federal case.
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 but did not specify when this allegedly occurred.
According to CNN, Biden’s ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan testified that she saw Hunter smoking crack a month before he purchased the revolver.
The defense argued that, despite their client’s published crack addiction admissions, the prosecution lacked solid proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Hunter Biden, a trained lawyer, “knowingly” viewed himself as an addict after exiting rehab and purchasing the revolver in question by lying. A jury quickly convicted Biden.