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Hunter Biden has been charged with three federal firearms offenses as prosecutors renew their legal challenge against US President Joe Biden’s son.
An indictment filed Thursday in federal court in Delaware accuses Hunter Biden of making false statements regarding the purchase of firearms and information required for those transactions, as well as possessing a firearm by “an unlawful user or addicted to a controlled substance.” . “.
The indictment comes after an initial agreement between Hunter Biden and federal prosecutors to resolve charges related to possession of a firearm and use of a controlled substance collapsed in July. Two new counts were added to the indictment.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month appointed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware appointed by Donald Trump, as a special prosecutor to oversee cases involving the president’s son, adding to the political sensitive cases and gives Wes greater independence to pursue cases in his investigation.
The new charges will put political pressure on Joe Biden as he prepares for a 2024 re-election bid and grapples with Republican scrutiny of his son’s drug addiction, legal issues and business dealings.
The indictment comes just two days after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into the president over Hunter Biden’s business dealings. McCarthy claimed the president “lied to the American people” about what he knew about his son’s business dealings.
Lawyers representing the White House and Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware declined to comment.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors announced that Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes and enter into a “pretrial diversion agreement” on a separate charge charging him with possession of a firearm. Illegal or addictive use of a controlled substance.
But in a surprise move, a Delaware judge in July questioned the terms of the plea agreement, including issues surrounding gun crimes. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to tax charges, stalling further efforts to reach a plea deal with the government. Prosecutors later said they would dismiss the tax case and possibly refile it in another court.
The gun charges stem from Hunter Biden’s purchase of a Colt Cobra revolver in 2018. At that time, he provided a written statement in Delaware stating that he was not an “illegal user” of a controlled substance, “and in fact, to the best of his knowledge, that statement was false and fictitious,” the indictment alleges.
The three counts carry a combined maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, but actual sentences are often lower than the maximum.
The president and the White House have largely avoided commenting directly on Hunter Biden’s troubles. The White House has repeatedly said the president and first lady “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”
Joe Biden made his first public comments on the impeachment inquiry at a fundraiser in Virginia on Wednesday night, telling Democratic donors: “I don’t quite know why, but they just know they want to impeach me.”
He added: “I get up every day, not jokingly, not focused on impeachment. I have a job to do. I have to deal with issues that affect the American people every day.”
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