Judge in Hunter Biden tax case calls president's pardon statement an attempt to 'rewrite history'
The judge who presided over the California tax fraud case against Hunter Biden called out the president for mischaracterizing and minimizing the charges against his son in announcing why he was pardoning him.
The judge who presided over the California tax fraud case against Hunter Biden called out the president for mischaracterizing and minimizing the charges against his son in announcing why he was pardoning him.
"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," U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi wrote in a ruling late Tuesday.
An attorney for Hunter Biden had asked the judge to dismiss the indictment against his client in light of President Joe Biden's pardon on Sunday night, but did not initially submit a formal copy of the pardon, and instead sent a link to the president's statement saying that his son had been "selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted" and was the victim of a "miscarriage of justice."
Scarsi said the president’s “representations” in the statement accompanying the pardon “stand in tension with the case record.”
"For example, the President asserts that Mr. Biden 'was treated differently' from others 'who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions,' implying that Mr. Biden was among those individuals who untimely paid taxes due to addiction. But he is not," the judge wrote.
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