The federal judge who oversaw Hunter Biden’s tax case slammed President Joe Biden Tuesday, writing he does not have “the authority to rewrite history” in pardoning his son.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi wrote in a five-page order that some of Biden’s claims in his Sunday statement announcing a full pardon for Hunter were false.
In particular, he narrowed in on the President’s assertion that his son “was treated differently” from others “who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions.”
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Scarsi noted that, in pretrial filings, Hunter Biden said he “was severely addicted to alcohol and drugs” until May 2019 but, when he pleaded guilty to the charges in the case, admitted to evading taxes after that—including by writing off luxury clothing purchases and payments to escorts as business expenses.
In other words, some of his admitted crimes took place during a period when Hunter says he was not seriously addicted to drugs, contrary to the president’s statement.
In addition to pleading guilty to offenses related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes in September, Hunter was convicted by a jury of illegal gun possession in June.
President Biden gave him a “full and unconditional” pardon in both cases and for any federal crimes he might have committed “from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”
Biden also controversially likened the cases to a politicized witch hunt, calling into question the independence of the American justice system.
“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,” President Biden wrote. “There has been an effort to break Hunter - who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me.”
Scarsi slammed that argument as well.
“Two federal judges expressly rejected Mr. Biden’s arguments that the Government prosecuted Mr. Biden because of his familial relation to the President ... And the President’s own Attorney General and Department of Justice personnel oversaw the investigation leading to the charges,” Scarsi wrote. “In the President’s estimation, this legion of federal civil servants, the undersigned included, are unreasonable people.”
Scarsi was not alone in his frustration.
A handful of Democrats—including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Rep. Greg Stanton (D-AZ)—broke ranks with their party and criticized Biden for attacking the justice system as President-elect Donald Trump so often has.
“It just gives the American people a sense that there’s one system for the rich and powerful and one system for everyone else,” Bennett told CNN on Monday.
Scarsi said he will formally terminate proceedings in Hunter Biden’s tax case once he receives the official paperwork.
