Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to three firearms charges during his appearance in a federal court in Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday morning.
In mid September, Special Counsel David Weiss indicted President Joe Biden’s son, alleging that Hunter lied on a federal form while purchasing a gun five years ago. The four-page indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, argues that Hunter “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 accused Hunter 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.” Biden openly acknowledged his struggles with addiction in his recent memoir, writing that he was smoking crack nearly every 15 minutes around the time he purchased the gun.
The indictment represented an about-face for Weiss, who previously brokered a plea deal with Biden in late July that would have permitted the president’s son to avoid jail time if he passed periodic drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble. The agreement ultimately fell apart after District Court judge Maryellen Noreika objected to the broad immunity Hunter would receive from any future charges, including potential charges related to the foreign influence-peddling schemes House Republicans are currently investigating.
Noreika pressed Weiss at the time 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.” “I am not aware of any,” Weiss replied.
The indictment led to strong reactions among Republicans and Democrats. Former president Donald Trump responded 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 X, asking why Biden isn’t yet facing “indictments for tax fraud…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.”
Representative Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) compared Hunter’s indictment to Trump’s various charges maintaining that both deserve to have the rights of due process and the presumption of innocence. “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.”
Biden’s legal team had initially requested for the president’s son to be arraigned virtually. “We respectfully request that the Court hold Mr. Biden’s initial appearance in this matter by video conference,” Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told the court, underscoring that Hunter was “not seeking any special treatment in making this request.” However, U.S. Magistrate judge Christopher Burke denied the request insisting that Biden make the trip from his home in California and that he “should not receive special treatment in this matter.”
If found guilty, Biden could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison alongside nearly $1 million in fines.