A federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s California tax charges condemned President Joe Biden’s statement that “no reasonable person” would find the charges fair.
U.S. Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee, wrote, “The President’s own Attorney General and Department of Justice personnel oversaw the investigation leading to the charges.”
“In short, a press release is not a pardon. The Constitution provides the President with broad authority to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, but nowhere does the Constitution give the President the authority to rewrite history.”
“Further, the Court has yet to receive the pardon from the appropriate executive agency,” Scarci added. “The Court directs the Clerk to comply with court procedures for effecting a grant of clemency once the pardon is formally received, which will result in the termination of the case.”
Scarsi noted that Biden may have overstepped the power of the presidential pardon.
“Because the period of pardoned conduct extends ‘through’ the date of execution, the warrant may be read to apply prospectively to conduct that had not yet occurred at the time of its execution, exceeding the scope of the pardon power,” he wrote.
“The warrant explicitly brings the charges in this action within the ambit of the pardon, indicating presidential intent for the pardon to apply to this case even if it is unconstitutional in other respects,” he concluded.
The filing comes as Special Counsel David Weiss has asked a California federal court not to dismiss the tax charges against the president’s son.
“There was none and never has been any evidence of vindictive or selective prosecution in this case,” Weiss wrote in the court filing. “The defendant made similar baseless accusations in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. Those claims were also rejected.”
