Federal prosecutors on Friday filed their opposition to efforts by Hunter Biden’s attorneys to dismiss tax-related charges filed against the president’s son last year.
Lawyers from special counsel David Weiss’ office forcefully rejected Biden’s assertion that the case against him was politically motivated and that prosecutors sought to appease congressional Republicans in bringing additional charges after a plea deal fell apart last year.
“The defendant concocts a conspiracy theory that the prosecution has ‘upped the ante’ to appease politicians who have absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution and are not even members of the current Executive Branch,” prosecutors wrote.
The filing came in a series of court documents filed in federal court in California, with Weiss’ team hitting back at various motions to dismiss the indictment.
In response to Biden’s arguments that the additional charges came amid pressure from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Weiss’ team said that prosecutors had signed proposed agreements for Biden’s plea “weeks after politicians had railed against them,” and highlighted the prosecution’s actions urging the court to accept the proposed agreements.
“To state an obvious fact that the defendant continues to ignore, former President Trump is not the President of the United States,” they wrote.
“The defendant fails to explain how President Biden or the Attorney General, to whom the Special Counsel reports, or the Special Counsel himself, or his team of prosecutors, are acting at the direction of former President Trump or Congressional Republicans, or how this current Executive Branch approved allegedly discriminatory charges against the President’s son at the direction of former President Trump and Congressional Republicans,” they added.
Biden’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s filings. The special counsel’s office declined to comment.
The judge overseeing the case told Biden’s attorneys to respond to the special counsel’s filings later this month.
Attorneys for Biden had also argued last month that Weiss’ appointment as special counsel was unlawful.
Prosecutors disputed those claims Friday, writing “these arguments are meritless and should be denied,” and arguing that Weiss’ appointment “conforms to the law in all respects.”
Biden pleaded not guilty to nine tax-related charges when he was arraigned in January.
In addition to the tax charges, Biden also faces federal gun charges that include an allegation that he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
House Republicans have targeted Biden in their impeachment inquiry into his father. Their probe took a major hit last month when former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, whose claims played a prominent role in sparking the GOP investigation, was indicted and accused of feeding false information to the FBI about President Joe Biden and his son during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Hunter Biden appeared for a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees last month as part of the impeachment inquiry, and blasted the probe, which has yet to provide any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, as a “baseless and destructive political charade” based on “MAGA-motivated conspiracies.”
Hunter Biden’s more than 6 hours of testimony — in which he emphatically denied GOP allegations against him and notably did not at any point invoke his Fifth Amendment rights — appears to have weakened support for an impeachment among House Republicans, NBC News has reported. Republicans have since invited Hunter Biden to testify publicly, on March 20, but he has yet to say whether he will attend the hearing.