Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Politics

“Patently False”: Special Counsel Files Blistering Reply to Hunter Biden Motion to Dismiss

Special Counsel David Weiss has filed a blistering opposition to the motion to dismiss by Hunter Biden in California that cites his own book and conflicting statements as creating “nothing more than a house of cards.” The filing (below) shows how Hunter’s claims (repeated by many in the media) collapse under even cursory review in court.

Weiss’s filing bulldozes through arguments of selective prosecution and political influence in the case. He specifically notes that Biden repeatedly makes statements without any proof or support in his filings.

The filing begins by outright accusing Hunter Biden and his counsel of lying to the court about what occurred after the earlier plea agreement fell apart in court after the judge in Delaware asked about a sweeping immunity clause in paragraph 14. Notably, Weiss said that it was Hunter Biden’s legal team that inexplicably shut down negotiations by playing hardball in seeking to preserve the original agreement:

“The government proposed changes to the agreements that addressed only the issues identified during the hearing. Exh. 3. The defendant rejected these counterproposals on August 7, 2023. Id. Instead, the defendant began insisting that the proposed Diversion Agreement had bound both parties, even though it had not been approved by the Chief U.S. Probation Officer, a condition precedent to formation that would have brought it into effect. Moreover, by taking this position, he chose to shut down any further negotiations that could address the issues raised at the hearing.”

It then accuses Biden and his counsel as outright lying to the court:

“In his motion, in multiple places, the defendant falsely states that DOJ ‘inexplicably demanded Mr. Biden plead guilty to felonies with jail time.’ He cites nothing in support of his false claims, which is a consistent theme across his motions. The government attaches as Exhibit 3 a redacted letter from the defendant’s counsel which confirms the defendant understood that the government had proposed changes to only those paragraphs that were at issue during the hearing, not paragraphs regarding the charges the defendant must plead to or any “jail time” the defendant must serve. As shown in Exhibit 3, the government proposed changes to Paragraphs 14, 15 and 17 of the Diversion Agreement, and Paragraph 5(b) of the Plea Agreement. The government proposed no changes to Paragraph 1 of the Plea Agreement, which required the defendant to plead guilty to two misdemeanors. Nor did the government propose any changes to Paragraph 6 of the Plea Agreement, in which the United States had agreed to recommend a sentence of probation. The defendant rejected these counterproposals and refused further negotiations…His newly invented claim in his motion that the government “inexplicably demanded Mr. Biden plead guilty to felonies with jail time” is patently false, unsupported by evidence, and belied by his own letter and representations in his filings in the Delaware case.”

The rest of the filing is equally devastating.

Weiss notes that Biden repeatedly misrepresents facts or claims authority that does not exist. He notes that Biden does not cite any cases of similarly situated individuals who were not prosecuted. For example, it notes:

“The only attempt the defendant makes to link animus directly to prosecutors is his claim that “reports indicate Mr. Weiss himself admitted [the charges] would not have been brought against the average American.” Motion at 13. However, his citation does not include a reference to reports (plural), rather it includes a single New York Times citation, which includes a denial immediately after the quoted excerpt: “A senior law enforcement official forcefully denied the account.” An anonymous account that is “forcefully denied” is not evidence that can satisfy the defendant’s burden of producing “clear evidence” of discriminatory intent and animus by prosecutors.”

In rejecting the two cases that he references, Weiss takes a swipe at Hunter’s book. When he published the book, some of us noted that he was making statements against his own interest in possible prosecutions. Weiss just made that a reality:

“The defendant compares himself to only two individuals: Robert Shaughnessy and Roger Stone, both of whom resolved their tax cases civilly for failing to pay taxes. Shaughnessy failed to file and pay his taxes, but he was not alleged to have committed tax evasion. By contrast, the defendant chose to file false returns years later, failed to pay when those returns were filed, and lied to his accountants repeatedly, claiming personal expenses as business expenses. Stone failed to pay his taxes but did timely file his returns, unlike the defendant. Neither Shaughnessy nor Stone illegally purchased a firearm and lied on background check paperwork. And neither of them wrote a memoir in which they made countless statements proving their crimes and drawing further attention to their criminal conduct. These two individuals are not suitable comparators, and since the defendant fails to identify anyone else, his claim fails.”

The brief even takes a shot at the use of public statements by former Attorney General Eric Holder to prove selective prosecution, noting that Holder seems hopelessly conflicted in his own claim of selective prosecution:

“The defendant cites media commentary by former Attorney General Eric Holder, who acknowledged that the defendant is not similarly situated to other individuals: ‘This isn’t some kind of ordinary run-of-the-mill tax case, [] this was an abuse of the tax system . . .'”

The filing annihilates the public claims of Hunter and his allies. It is the difference between making a case in the court of public opinion and making a case in an actual court of law.

Special Counsel Opposition

218 thoughts on ““Patently False”: Special Counsel Files Blistering Reply to Hunter Biden Motion to Dismiss”

  1. Professor Turley, thank you for providing the Special Counsel Opposition. I have not yet read it, but could you comment on Hunter’s separation of powers claims?

  3. Wow, all this angst about Hunter again. JT has a habit of running with incomplete facts. Let’s see how this plays out. Meanwhile, how many of trumps legal counsel have had disiplinary actions? I think it is 17, and counting. Didn’t trumps right hand business partner plead guilty to Pergury? How many $ Billions did Jared and Ivanka walk off with? I think it was 2, from the Saudis. How much did trump make from foreign nationals while he was President? Oh ya, they all stayed at his hotel in DC, and various golf courses, but being a private firm we have no idea how much cash was transfered to trump from foreign nationals, while trump was President. And now, who is paying trumps bills for the hundreds of millions he is now on the hook to pay? I’m sure there would be no conflict for trump to return favors should he return to office (fat chance of that happening).

    Look, corruption is rampant in DC, root it out please. Did Hunter make money off his dads name? Probably. Did trump? Most definitely, Obama? probaby. Clintons? you bet. Bush’s? I’m sure. And I am quite sure 90 to 99% of the Senators and Congress persons in office likewise have made money off their position. So please root out corruption. But they way JT keeps after the Biden’s, while ignoring the glaring log in his eye with trump is ridiculus. As I said, JT has a habit of runing with facts not in evidence and also with determining what is a fact before all the information is available. Let’s see how this all rolls out before jumping to conclusions.

    1. love how you spelled “Pergury.” New word you learned? (can’t be a typo because the letters g and j are not close together on the keyboard.)

    2. . Did trump? Most definitely

      Trump donated all of his Presidential salary to Charity. Trump took zero dollars from and any outside sources.

      You are against Trump. Strange you fail to articulate a single fact.

      1. LOL that you think Trump took zero dollars from and any outside sources. Yeah, those Emoluments Clause lawsuits were invented out of thin air.

        1. I didn’t know any emoluments law suites were still pending. ALL of them were dismissed for failing to meet constitutional standing.

          1. Actually, they weren’t. The cases continued til Trump was out of office, at which point SCOTUS declared them moot. But not because of problems with standing.

      2. “Trump donated all of his Presidential salary to Charity. Trump took zero dollars from and any outside sources.”

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
        HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
        HAHAHAH
        HAHAHAHa

        You make me cry with your ignorance.

    3. Get a life – a “real” life in the “real” world. You would be surprised how mixed up you are.

    4. Not his stupid nonsense about Trump’s legal counsel.

      Smith has lost in SCOTUS 9-0 several times – BEFORE going after Trump.
      Scotus has biden slapped dozens of left wing nut lawyers that are all supposed to be the creme of the crop.

      Yes, Democratic lawfare has deliberately targeted Trump and Republican lawyers in order to take them out of the game.

      Just as Trump is targeted to dissuade republicans and others – like Ramawamy from entering politics.

      Because the absolute worst thing for those with political power – right or left,
      would be to have someone actually competent gain power.

  4. But… Joe said Hunter is ‘the smartest man he knows’.
    Certainly this is all just Russian disinformation.
    C’mon man, you know the thing.

  5. Everyone knows the rule of law is dead….two teir system, corrupt doj, irs, fbi, etc

  6. I guess this is the price to be paid when your father pimps you out to foreign officials to get bribes. All for the love of a father right Jonathan ?

    1. Anonymous said: “Aliens with death rays should kill everyone.”

      You first.

  8. Jonathan, thank you. I learn more every time I read you. To me you are an American treasure. Keep going.

  9. It would appear that the functions of our government ( or just facts in general) need only comply with what a corrupt and colluded media tells us to belive is true. We are lost as a nation, society, and culture if we cannot/will not disinfect ourselves of this infestation of progressive disease soon.

  10. 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐲 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐆𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥, 𝐒𝐚𝐲𝐬 “𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐅*𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩” 𝐈𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 ‘𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐲’ 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐗𝐒𝐖
    Stormy Daniels skipped the red carpet Friday but took the stage briefly after a screening of documentary Stormy, which had its SXSW premiere on the festival’s opening night. She was emotional, often wiping away tears, as she embraced director Sarah Gibson and talked about how important the film is to her. But she displayed her trademark defiance too, closing with a parting shot — “And f*ck Trump.”
    By: Jill Goldsmith ~ Mar 8, 2024
    https://deadline.com/2024/03/stormy-daniels-sxsw-documentary-premiere-donald-trump-1235850640/

    1. So did you get turned on?? You sound excited. Foolish people believe foolish things.

    2. Shouldn’t she be grateful for the amount of money she got from Trump? Maybe she’s now getting more money from someone else.

      1. If she takes money from Trump in exchange for sexual favors doesn’t that, technically, make her a W****Hore?

        1. She didn’t take it in exchange for sexual favors. It was hush money, meant to keep her quiet about it before the 2016 election. And the way Trump paid for it made it an illegal campaign contribution (federal) plus multiple counts of falsifying business records (state).

          2. So the sexual favors came before the money…so what, we still all know what she is…making money off of a rich man…It’s been happening since the beginning of time. As a woman, myself, I know what these types of woman are all about…she is no one that I would want either of my sons to be involved with.

            1. It’s so interesting that you write about Stormy providing sexual favors to Trump, but not vice versa. Do you think he’s bad in bed, so no woman would consider it a sexual favor? He did this while cheating on Melania, who had just giving birth to their son, and of course Trump also cheated on his first wife with his second. Yet you don’t criticize this. And assuming that Melania also provided sexual favors to Trump before they got married, do you consider her a whore too?

              1. Men, more times than not, think with the little head rather than the big head. Women, not so much – they are coldblooded and direct in the purposes for which they use their “charms” to manipulate men. Sorry -but that is the truth… Men are usually the manipulated ones regardless of what old angry feminists might tell you. We have more power over men than you would want to admit and most women in such situations are not the helpless victim until they want to cash in.

                1. No doubt Trump was “thinking with his little head” when he raped E. Jean Carroll.

                  And no, it’s not the truth; it’s your opinion, overgeneralizing from some women and some men.

                  1. e jean liar has an article in The Cut section in NY mag where she literally claims 21 men have tried or have raped her over the course of her sexual escapades
                    she fancies herself in several of the fables she tells as a super heroine who makes the hollywood strong woman moves seen in every current action and adventure and drama movie and escapes the clutches of the despicable phantom attacker, tossing him off just as he grabs the knife to dice her up, a knife of course she has dealt with many times in her skilled existence, then runs away outpacing the incapable slob

                    It’s amazing. The most raped woman in the entire world, she must be quite the irresistible stunner.

                    https://www.thecut.com/article/donald-trump-assault-e-jean-carroll-other-hideous-men.html

                    Learn what lying charlatans you so ignorantly support put out, have a good read, it will sink into your tiny cranium and do the serious damage it so desperately needs.

            2. Yeah – Trump is good in Bed, he’s good on the Kitchen table, in the Backseat, at 50,000 feet above sea level, on the Yacht, in the Elevator, in the Parking Lot, everywhere, just admit it – He’s Good!

              1. Anonymous: How would you know Trump is good in bed? Have some personal knowledge?

          3. The FEC concluded that it was not a campaign contribution. Even if it were, a state court has no jurisdiction to penalize unreported campaign contributions.

            1. The FEC did not conclude that. And NY state isn’t prosecuting him for the illegal campaign contribution. It’s prosecuting him for falsifying business records, whence my clear statement “plus multiple counts of falsifying business records (state).”

              1. The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has closed its investigation into whether former President Trump illegally made hush money payments to women prior to the 2016 election.

                The FEC voted 4-1 to close the inquiry after failing to find that Trump or his campaign “knowingly and willfully” violated campaign finance law when his former attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from disclosing an alleged affair.

                https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/552271-fec-drops-investigation-into-trump-hush-money-payments/

                Why all the lies?

      1. Saying her name or acknowledging that her(alleged murderer) was an illegal alien would tarnish the fairy tale that biden needs to sell before November.

          1. Biden said, “Lincoln.”
            If it were not for MTG correcting him, he would of just blundered on.
            Laken Riley’s mother called Biden pathetic for not remembering her name.

              1. Awww. Is that the best you can do?
                How lame.
                And, the next day after the SOTU, Biden confused Jan6th with July 6th.

                1. And Trump keeps saying that he’s running against Obama, and ran against Obama in 2016. He’s said that Biden is going to start WW2. There’s a long list of more significant gaffes by Trump.

                  1. Thankfully for us, Biden did apologize . . . for using the word “illegal” when he described the illegal thug who allegedly beat nursing student Laken Riley’s head in.
                    Reportedly Nancy Pelosi was also upset at the use of the word “illegal.”
                    Neither seem terribly concerned about Laken Riley’s murder, who’s head was beaten in, allegedly by an illegal thug.

                    1. @Upstate

                      Yes, that was telling to me. He used the precise language she dictated in her comment. Given all that transpired during Trump’s term, I have zero doubt Pelosi is one of the main string pullers. Ye Gods, that woman is a toxic human being.

          2. No he didn’t, he just did the best that his addled old glob of grey matter could handle and mispronounced a name that he probably had no idea about what it meant. And then he was severely chastised for actually referring to the alleged murderer as what he is – an illegal alien – that is a direct result of biden occupying the white house.

    4. Col. Douglas Macgregor offers his State of our Union address.pic.twitter.com/a3WbQKMKjX
      — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 8, 2024

      Something much more interesting than a former stripper.

    5. If it was not for Trump, her bank account would not look as good as from her previous job.

    6. Know what would be a much more interesting documentary to watch?
      If they made one about Lunden Roberts and her struggle against the Biden family.

    7. Something way more interesting than a stripper who is now making more money than she would of been just being a stripper, and owes it all to Trump,Cheney and her committee falsely claimed they had ‘no evidence’ to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had asked for 10,000 National Guard troops.
      https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/08/exclusive-liz-cheney-january-6-committee-suppressed-exonerating-evidence-of-trumps-push-for-national-guard/

  11. HB. What a wastrel. I have met and treated quite a variety of people over the years, some not too pleasant. Some were even murderers. Strangely enough most of them were more complete human beings than what seems to pass for a human being in the form of Hunter Biden. None were well to do like the accused in this case and yet most seem to have had some dignity that HB has never shown . One wonders, for a time, what would have become of HB if his father had just been a run of the mill person with no political influence and HB just had to plug through life like the vast majority of Americans who did not have a father’s wide wake to part the waters for him.
    Probably his remains would would have laid undiscovered in some seedy alley long ago. May yet happen.

    1. How could he not have become what he is knowing that he has grown up under the influence of one of the greatest sleazebag, corrupt obfuscators known to man?

  12. Wow, somebody call Nature magazine. Weiss grew a backbone from scratch. Guess even a government hog-trougher can read election polling.

    1. Could that be what happens when unrelenting pressure pushes someone to be the next fall guy next on the list?

    2. He’s just following orders from on high – it’s time to deep six the biden clan – they serve no further purpose.

    2. “I will never vote for Hunter Biden.”

      Good choice. Now what about the father he was bagman for?

  16. Usually I confine myself to the subject at hand but I’m so bored with the Bidens getting the hall pass on everything that I will digress to some extent to discuss the fact that firefighters who booed Letitia James are now going to be “hunted down” (department words) and charged. These men are heroes who selflessly risk their lives on the daily. It should also be noted that the occasion was the swearing in of FDNY’s first black female chaplain. How many of those guys got to participate in choosing this chaplain? Maybe she’s great, I don’t know, but maybe a seeming diversity hire wasn’t such a win for the men themselves. My stepfather was a police chaplain and years after his death I saw a cop’s eyes light up when he found out who I was. My stepfather was a guy’s guy who was able to lend support in that sort of nonverbal way that men tend to appreciate. He would ride along with the cops at night and just be there for them with a joke or even physical backup. “He was the best chaplain we ever had,” this cop told me. “He never made us pray or anything.” A role like chaplain isn’t just a plum to be awarded to whoever ticks off all the woke boxes and it’s extremely offensive that it seems to have been treated as such Al’s now these guys, our former heroes, are the bad guys for exercising the 1st amendment rights we all theoretically should enjoy.

    1. I thought you were kidding about the firefighters getting hunted down.
      You were not!

      1. Bidens America…where you get hunted down if you don’t bow down to the Progressives.

    2. “. . . firefighters who booed Letitia James are now going to be “hunted down” . . .”

      So Leftists threaten physical force and use the heckler’s veto. The speech is cancelled. Firefighters boo a Leftist darling, and they’re punished.

      This is becoming redundant.

      1. Sam, this is the result of fascists taking control of essential governmental posts. Intimidation is the goal; if it works, intimidation will worsen. We see this with the continuous threats of arrests for Jan 6, and they won’t stop either.

        The firefighters need to all stand up as brothers and threaten to resign no matter what their affiliation is, as I don’t believe many firefighters, if any, Democrat or Republican, are fascists.

  17. “It then accuses Biden and his counsel as outright lying . . .” – “Weiss notes that Biden repeatedly misrepresents facts or claims authority that does not exist. ” – Biden[Hunter] repeatedly makes statements without any proof or support” –
    “He cites nothing in support of his false claims, which is a consistent theme . . .”

    Well, there is no need for Hunter to take a DNA test!

    Apple. Tree. Fall. Not very far.

  19. Will Hunter be sanctioned under Rule 11 for filing a frivolous pleading? Since his last name is Biden rather than Trump, that answer is probably”no”.

  20. This seems like a different prosecution than a year ago. I wonder if the Biden and garland interference in the case ended

Comments are closed.