WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on federal firearms charges, the latest and weightiest step yet in a long-running investigation into the president’s son.
Join our WhatsApp groupBiden is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a firearm in October 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction to crack cocaine, according to the indictment filed in federal court in Delaware.
President Joe Biden’s son has also been under investigation for his business dealings. The special counsel overseeing the case has indicated that charges of failure to pay taxes on time could be filed in Washington or in California, where he lives.
The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into the Democratic president, in large part over Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Republicans have obtained testimony about how Hunter used the “Biden brand” to drum up work overseas, but have not produced hard evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
A gun possession charge against Hunter Biden, 53, had previously been part of a plea deal that also included guilty pleas to misdemeanor tax charges, but the agreement imploded during a court hearing in July when a judge raised questions about its unusual provisions.
Defense attorneys have argued that a part of the deal sparing Hunter Biden prosecution on the gun count if he stays out of trouble remains in place. It includes immunity provisions against other potential charges. Attorneys indicated they would fight additional charges filed against him.
Prosecutors, though, maintain the agreement never took effect and is now invalid.
The gun charge filed against Hunter Biden on Thursday is rarely used alone, and the law could be on shakier legal ground after a recent appeals court ruling that found it doesn’t stand up under new Supreme Court standards for gun laws.
Republicans had denounced the plea agreement as a “sweetheart deal.” It would have allowed Hunter Biden to serve probation rather than jail time after pleading guilty to failing to pay taxes in both 2017 and 2018.
His personal income during those two years totaled roughly $4 million, including business and consulting fees from a company he formed with the CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, prosecutors have said.
Congressional Republicans have continued their own investigations into the Justice Department’s handling of the case as well as nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, seeking to connect his financial affairs directly to his father. They have failed to produce evidence that the president directly participated in his son’s work, though he sometimes had dinner with his son’s clients or said hello to them on calls.
this is crazy. hunter never bought a gun or smoked anything-all this is Russian disinformation – hunter is a successful business consultant and brilliant artist whom evil russians are diabolically making out to be a bad guy.
This is the DOJ’s strategy of distraction, that average American tv watching dummy will be distracted with. This is the least of the Bidens crimes. This is a sick joke. The Democrat voters are all evil wicked creatures.
This is a bait and switch to cover for way bigger crimes
A waste of tax payer money. Millions of dollars down the drain….for what? …..and this impeachment stuff and tit for tat behavior has got to stop ( you impeached the Republican and so now we will impeach the Democrat). Enough already. Our politicians need to grow up. They act like middle school bullies towards each other. I am a Senior Citizen and don’t remember it ever being like this.
david weiss another liberal Jew is covering for the Chinese spy by bringing up charges that are not related to senile Joe to distract from millions he got in kickbacks from ukraine.
Bad man, but fake crime, firearms are for everyone
Cool. Whatever.
Crazy country that we always have to go after pollical leaders and their family. We can’t just live and let live. Then you wonder why normal people don’t want to be in politics. We need to let go and stop both the Trump and Biden investigations. Don’t worry so much about noone being above the law unless its a super duper scary blue collar crime.