Hunter Biden asks judge to toss federal gun charges

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Hunter Biden is asking a judge to toss his federal gun charges, arguing that prosecutors have broken a deal previously struck in the case and that Special Counsel David Weiss is bending to the will of Republican critics.

The embattled son of President Joe Biden was hit with three felony gun charges in Delaware in September over a gun purchase in October 2018 when he was in the grips of drug addiction.

Prosecutors allege that Hunter Biden unlawfully possessed a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver for 11 days, after he falsely claimed on a gun purchase form that he didn’t use drugs.

Under federal law, an unlawful drug user cannot legally possess a firearm.

The president’s son is facing up to 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000 on the charges.

The charges came after he reached a plea deal with the Justice Department in June before the terms of the agreement fell apart before a judge.

Under the terms of the deal, Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanours for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018. In exchange, prosecutors would not charge with him a gun possession violation.

But, in a dramatic moment in court, the judge refused to accept the scope of the plea deal, and the agreement – which was slammed as a “sweetheart deal” by Biden critics – fell apart.

This then paved the way for Mr Weiss to bring first the three-count indictment on gun charges and, just last week, a new nine-count indictment on tax charges.

But now, Hunter Biden is now calling for the three charges to be dropped, calling them “unprecedented” and “unconstitutional”.

In court filings on Monday, his attorneys claim that part of the plea deal is still valid – meaning that Mr Weiss should have been blocked from bringing the charges against the president’s son.

“The Indictment against Mr. Biden must be dismissed because it violates a Diversion Agreement that is in effect between Mr. Biden and the prosecution,” the filing states.

“In exchange for Mr. Biden giving up various rights – including his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent by agreeing to the Statement of Facts drafted by the prosecution and numerous restrictions on his liberty – the prosecution agreed to provide him immunity for any offense concerning his purchase of a firearm (among other offenses).

“As the prosecution told the Court, “based on the terms of the agreement. . . . we cannot bring [] firearms charges based on the firearm identified in the factual statement to the Diversion Agreement.”... Nevertheless, the prosecution did just that, by subsequently bringing this Indictment charging Mr. Biden with three felony firearm offenses, which all relate to the firearm identified in the Diversion Agreement’s factual statement. Because Mr. Biden gave up valuable rights as part of this contract, in exchange for the prosecution’s promise not to prosecute him, “such promise must be fulfilled.””

Hunter Biden’s attorneys also claim that he has been the victim of bias from Republicans who are “weaponizing” the case in a bid to damage his father’s relection campaign.

They claim Mr Weiss, a Donald Trump-appointed judge, is being pushed by the former president and the GOP party to pursue him for “political reasons”.

“As a holdover from the Trump Administration, Mr. Weiss faces political pressure from his own party to pursue Mr. Biden more aggressively than similarly situated individuals and to do so for vindictive reasons,” the legal team argues in another filing.

“His political future within this constituency may depend upon it.”

US District Judge Maryellen Noreika will rule on the matters.

This comes days after Hunter Biden was hit with a string of new criminal charges accusing him of skipping out on more than $1.4m in taxes while enjoying a lavish lifestyle of “exotic cars”, “drugs, escorts and girlfriends”.

Justice Department prosecutors filed a new nine-count indictment in California on 7 December, charging him with two counts of filing a false return, one count of tax evasion, four counts of failing to pay taxes and two counts of failure to file taxes.

Prosecutors say Hunter made millions of dollars in income between the years 2016 and 2020 – all the while engaging in a years-long tax evasion scheme.

According to the indictment, Hunter “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020”.

Instead of paying his tax bills, the president’s son allegedly spent millions of dollars funding his “extravagant lifestyle” including spending money on “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature”.

“In short, everything but his taxes,” the indictment states.