Hunter Biden’s lawyers launch apparent 11th-hour bid to land pardon from Dad

<p>Lawyers for scandal-scarred first son Hunter Biden have issued a new public diatribe whining he is the alleged victim of “political prosecutions” — an apparent last-ditch push for his dad to pardon him. Abbe Lowell, one of Hunter’s top lawyers, dusted off his well-worn claims that the two criminal cases against the 54-year-old disgraced son faced significant outside pressure as Republicans sought to harm his father, President Biden, politically. “This is a seven-year saga propelled by an unrelenting political desire to use a son to hurt his father,” Lowell said in a statement about the public missive, which was first obtained by the Washington Post . “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 claimed. Hunter pleaded guilty in September to nine counts pertaining to bilking Americans of $1.4 million in taxes.– despite his defense team’s adamance that he was politically prosecuted. At the time, the presiding judge noted Hunter could face up to 17 years behind bars as well as up to $1.3 million in fines. Additionally, a jury found Hunter guilty of three counts in June related to possession of a firearm while addicted to illegal drugs. Hunter is slated to face sentencing for the gun case Dec. 12 and for the tax case Dec. 16. President Biden and the White House have repeatedly ruled out both a pardon and clemency for his troubled son, whom he spent time with in Nantucket for Thanksgiving. “We’ve been asked that question multiple times and our answer stands — which is no,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters after President-elect Donald Trump’s victory. Hunter’s defense team’s new public memo, titled “The political prosecutions of Hunter Biden,” is 52 pages long and was billed by Lowell as the “complete and reprehensible history of the political persecution of Hunter Biden.” “A system that is supposed to protect against abuses failed to do so and was corrupted by political leaders in this country,” the memo argues. “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.” It includes a timeline of how Trump’s confidants hunted for dirt on Hunter and rehashed the plea deal that imploded in court during the summer of 2023 when a judge exposed daylight between prosecutors and the defense over whether the first soon would get broad immunity. At the time, a cacophony of Republicans had initially panned that agreement as a “sweetheart” plea deal and publicly accused prosecutors of letting him off the hook. Regarding Hunter’s gun case, his defense claimed one of the charges was typically only used against individuals who had a felony conviction or had multiple guns. Prosecutors had an extraordinary array of evidence against the troubled first son thanks to his laptop and his book, “Beautiful Things,” which laid out the granular details of his crack addiction at the time. Prosecutors played clips from Hunter’s audiobook in the courtroom during proceedings on the gun case against him. Hunter’s defense team also stressed that he “fully paid his past-due taxes with interest and penalties in 2021 — over two years before any charges were brought.” He did so with help from his so-called “sugar brother” pal Kevin Morris. The first son has claimed he pleaded guilty to those charges for the sake of not subjecting “my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment.” “The impact that the extraordinary and improper events described have had on Hunter and his family is obvious,” his lawyers added in the new memo. “However, the effect that partisan politics can have on what is supposed to be an independent prosecutorial decision-making process extends beyond Hunter’s case,” the missive says. “Politics’ outsize role reveals a new page in the playbook of politicizing investigations and prosecutions.” Ironically, many of President Biden’s allies had brushed aside Trump’s similar accusations that he was the victim of political prosecutions by the justice system. Despite Hunter suggesting Trump’s supporters are a “fascist minority” and likening the president-elect to a dictator, the incoming Republican commander in chief has kept the door open to pardoning him. “I wouldn’t take it off the books,” Trump previously told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “There’s no question about it, he’s been a bad boy,” he said of Hunter. “All you had to do is see the laptop from hell. But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country.”</p>