Hunter Biden Indicted on Federal Gun Charges

Special counsel David Weiss has indicted Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, on charges that he lied on a federal form while purchasing a gun five years ago.

The four-page indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, says that Hunter Biden “knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive” a dealer in his effort to acquire a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018.

The indictment accuses Biden of certifying on a federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms form that “he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”

Hunter Biden’s addiction struggles have been in the spotlight for years.

The indictment represents an about-face from Weiss who brokered a plea deal with Biden in late July that would have allowed the president’s son to avoid jail time for the gun charge if he passed drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble.

However, the agreement fell apart after District Court judge Maryellen Noreika cast doubt over whether the compromise ensured that Hunter would avoid any forthcoming felony charges stemming from the gun incident as well as allegations of tax evasion.

Pressed by Noreika over whether such a deal had “any precedent for agreeing not to prosecute crimes that have nothing to do with the case or the charges being diverted,” Weiss replied: “I am not aware of any.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Weiss’s designation as special counsel in August after he came under fire from Republicans.

The indictment was not a surprise. Weiss indicated earlier this month that he was likely to seek the indictment on the gun charges sometimes in September.

Weiss, who has been leading the sprawling investigation since late 2018, has been accused by Republicans of dragging his feet on the investigation because Hunter Biden is the president’s son. The statute of limitations on the gun charge was about to lapse in the case.

Weiss has said he could still bring tax evasion charges against Hunter Biden in California or Washington, D.C. Biden is accused of repeatedly missing IRS tax deadlines.

Republicans and Democrats reacted differently to the indictment.

Former president Donald Trump reacted on Truth Social, his social media website, writing that “the gun charge, is the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden.”

“One down, Eleven to go!” Trump added. “The Democrats, with all of their horrible, very unfair, and mostly illegal Witch Hunts, have started a process that is very dangerous for our Country. They have opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box, and it is possible that the USA will never be the same again. SO SAD!!!

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.) took her thoughts to the X platform, asking why Biden isn’t yet facing “indictments for tax fraud, FARA abuse, money laundering, and sex trafficking.”

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called the indictment a “smokescreen” that is “diverting attention away from the true problem,” which he said is the first family “selling out U.S. foreign policy for their own family’s private financial gain.”

Democratic U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) compared Hunter Biden’s indictment to former president Donald Trump’s various charges and said both should have rights to due process and the presumption of innocence, according to MSNBC.

“I don’t think people should applaud the system when it works for Hunter Biden but then try to tear the system down when it works for Donald Trump,” Raskin told reporters following the federal indictment. “We shouldn’t take delight in other people’s misfortunes, but we have to have a rule of law.”