Hunter Biden asked a federal court to dismiss three felony gun charges brought against him by Special Counsel David Weiss on Thursday. The president’s son previously pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday.
Last month, Weiss slapped Hunter with three felonies related to his unlawful purchase of a firearm in 2018. The counts specifically allege that Hunter lied on the background check form required to purchase the gun and possessed the firearm “while he was addicted to and using illicit substances.”
It’s important to note that Weiss intentionally postponed an inquiry into Hunter’s allegedly criminal activities because he believed it would hamper then-candidate Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential aspirations.
In their Thursday court filing, Abbe Lowell and Richard Jones Jr., Hunter’s attorneys, said that they “will seek to dismiss” the felony gun charges against their client “pursuant to the immunity provisions” of a diversion agreement agreed to by both parties earlier this summer, which Lowell and Jones argue grants Hunter immunity from such charges. That agreement came alongside a separate set of indictments filed against Hunter by Weiss in June, which included two misdemeanor tax charges and a felony charge for possessing a firearm while being an unlawful drug user and addict.
As The Federalist’s Jordan Boyd reported, this “carefully orchestrated” sweetheart deal concocted by the DOJ and Hunter’s legal team “meant the younger Biden would only face probation — not jail time — for the two misdemeanor tax charges he planned to plead guilty to.” Meanwhile, the federal government “planned to drop the original felony gun charge as long as Hunter pledged to forsake his drug-plagued lifestyle for 24 months and never own a gun again.”
When presented with the pretrial diversion agreement in court, however, Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika smelled a rat. Rather than rubber-stamping the agreement, Noreika discovered that the deal would grant Hunter immunity from future charges beyond those listed in the indictment. As a result, the plea agreement fell apart.
If convicted on all three felony gun charges, Hunter could face up to 25 years in prison, according to the New York Post.