WASHINGTON, Jan 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The special counsel who prosecuted
Hunter Biden accused US President Joe Biden on Monday of undermining public
confidence in the justice system with his criticism of the investigation into
his son.

Hunter Biden, 54, was convicted of gun and tax crimes in cases brought by
special counsel David Weiss but was pardoned by his father in December.

Weiss, in his final report on the case released Monday, noted that the
president, in announcing the pardon, had criticized the prosecution of his
son, calling it "selective," "unfair," "infected" by "raw politics," and a
"miscarriage of justice."

"This statement is gratuitous and wrong," Weiss said. "Other presidents have
pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an
opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based
solely on false accusations."

The special counsel said the prosecutions of Hunter Biden were "the
culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.

"Calling those rulings into question and injecting partisanship into the
independent administration of the law undermines the very foundation of what
makes America's justice system fair and equitable," he said. "It erodes
public confidence in an institution that is essential to preserving the rule
of law."

Biden pardoned his son prior to his sentencing in the two criminal cases.

"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 at the time.

The release of Weiss's report comes shortly before the expected release this
week of another special counsel report -- that of Jack Smith, who brought two
criminal cases against former and now future president Donald Trump.

Smith accused Trump of seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election
he lost to Biden and mishandling top secret documents after leaving the White
House.

Neither case came to trial and Smith, in line with a Justice Department
policy of not prosecuting a sitting president, dropped the charges after
Trump won the November presidential election.

- History of personal pardons -

Smith's report on the election interference case is likely to be released
this week but his report on the documents case may be withheld because
charges are pending against two of Trump's former co-defendants.

Hunter Biden was convicted last year of lying about his drug use when he
bought a gun -- a felony -- and he pleaded guilty in a separate tax evasion
case.

His father had repeatedly said he would not pardon Hunter but that he decided
to do so after he "watched my son being selectively, and unfairly,
prosecuted."

US presidents have previously used pardons to help family members and other
political allies.

Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother for old cocaine charges and Trump
pardoned the father of his son-in-law for tax evasion, though in both cases
those men had already served their prison terms.

Trump has vowed to pardon supporters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6,
2021, in a bid to reverse his 2020 election loss.