Joe Biden’s son hit with gun charges for buying firearms while on drugs
Hunter Biden charged with deceiving gun dealer, could impact Biden's re-election bid. Charges unrelated to tax violations. GOP opens impeachment inquiry.
U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden on Thursday was criminally charged of deceiving a gun dealer into selling him a firearm. He is charged with three criminal counts related to lying about the fact he was using illegal drugs at that time, which would have banned him under the law from owning a firearm. The was filed at the U.S. District Court in Delaware
This would be the first-ever indictment of a sitting president's child and can turn out to be a major blow for Biden's re-election bid.
New charges filed by U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss against Hunter Biden do not pertain to U.S. tax law violations. A prior agreement in which Hunter Biden was set to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a program to avoid prosecution on a gun charge fell apart during a July hearing.
The tax investigation into Biden is still ongoing and may result in charges being filed in either the District of Columbia or the Central District of California. Prosecutors have accused him of lying about his drug use when buying a Colt Cobra handgun in October 2018.
The move comes two days after House of Representatives Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden related to Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings. The White House has denounced that step, made without a vote by the full House, as unsubstantiated and politically motivated.
"As expected, prosecutors filed charges today that they deemed were not warranted just six weeks ago following a five-year investigation into this case," Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement. "The evidence in this matter has not changed in the last six weeks, but the law has and so has MAGA Republicans' improper and partisan interference in this process."
The White House declined to comment. A spokesperson for Weiss declined to comment.
The charges ensure that courtroom drama will play an outsized role in the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign as Joe Biden, 80, seeks reelection in a likely rematch with his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, 77, who faces four upcoming criminal trials of his own.
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First Published:15 Sep 2023, 07:15 AM IST
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