The federal judge presiding over Hunter Biden's tax case has harshly criticized President Biden's claims that his son was treated unfairly and the way he extradited his son following a pardon from his immediate predecessor.
In a scathing five-page order, U.S. District Judge Mark Scalsi, based in the Central District of California and nominated by President-elect Trump, accused President Biden of “rewriting history” with the pardon and set out the scope of the pardon. He suggested the size. What was given to his son is unconstitutional.
“While the Constitution gives the President broad powers to grant reprieves and pardons for crimes against the United States, nowhere in the Constitution does it give the president the power to rewrite history,” he wrote.
Biden pardons son Hunter Biden before leaving Oval Office
Hunter Biden leaves a House Oversight Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 10. On Friday, a judge denied a motion to dismiss the federal gun case against him. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
The judge expressed displeasure that the president had informed the judiciary of his son's pardon order through a White House press release.
“Rather than provide a true and accurate copy of the pardon with the notice, Mr. Biden provided a hyperlink to a White House press release introducing the President's statement regarding the pardon and the purported language of the pardon.” he wrote.
“In short, a press release is not an amnesty,” he continued.
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Scalsi went on to say that in response to the president's statement regarding his son's tax case, “the president said that Biden is being treated differently than other people who are 'severely addicted and have fallen behind on their taxes.' '', suggesting that Mr. Biden was one of them.'' Some people pay their taxes past due due to addiction, but not him. ”
“According to the president, 'no reasonable person considering the facts of (Biden's) case could come to any conclusion other than that (Biden) was elected solely because he is (the president's) son. But two federal judges have ruled that the government prosecuted Biden because of his family ties to the president, and that the investigation that led to the indictment was overseen by the president's own attorney general and Justice Department officials. ,” Scalsi wrote.
Biden twice said he would not forgive his son Hunter Biden
“In the President's assessment, this corps of federal civil servants, including the undersigned, are unreasonable people,” he said.
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs from the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 3, 2024. Biden is on trial for a felony firearm charge. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The judge said he would dispose of the case as soon as he received a formal pardon from the “appropriate executive authority.”
He also canceled Hunter Biden's scheduled sentencing for Dec. 16. The crime carried a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines, the eldest son likely would have received an even shorter sentence.
President Trump expects Biden to pardon son Hunter
“Subject to the following discussion, the court will assume that the pardon is valid and will proceed with the case. “We have long recognized that this is only the case,” he wrote.
File: President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket, walks with his son Hunter Biden as they head to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on July 26, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Hunter Biden, 54, has had a busy year in the courtroom, starting his first trial in June facing three felony firearms charges in Delaware and pleading guilty to another felony tax case in September. I admitted it.
President Biden's decision to pardon his son is a departure from his previous statements to the media over the summer, when he insisted he would not pardon his eldest son.
“Yes,” President Biden told ABC News when asked if he would rule out pardoning Hunter ahead of his conviction in the gun case.
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Days later, after a jury of Hunter's peers found him guilty of three felony firearms crimes, the president again said he would not pardon his son.
After Hunter was convicted, Biden said, “I'm not going to do anything.” “I will abide by the jury's decision.”
FOX News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Fox News Digital's Emma Colton and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.
