The president’s son was arraigned on charges of lying about his drug use on a form he

[JaySmith]

The president’s son was arraigned on charges of lying about his drug use on a form he filled out to purchase a handgun in 2018.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/03/u...n-charges.html

Hunter Biden wearing a dark suit and arriving at court in Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday.
Hunter Biden arriving at court in Wilmington, Del., on Tuesday. He entered not guilty pleas on three charges brought against him last month by the Justice Department

Oct. 3, 2023
Updated 12:25 p.m. ET
Hunter Biden, the president’s son, pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday to charges stemming from his purchase of a handgun in 2018, the latest development in an investigation that Republicans have tried to use to inflict political damage on his father.

During his arraignment in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Biden, 53, entered not guilty pleas on the three charges brought against him last month by the Justice Department: falsifying a federal firearms application, lying to a federally licensed gun dealer and possessing an illegally obtained gun for 11 days, from Oct. 12 to Oct. 23, 2018.

The charges are related to his statement on a federal form he filled out to purchase a Colt revolver five years ago that he was not a drug user. Mr. Biden has acknowledged he had long-running addictions to crack cocaine and alcohol.

If convicted, Mr. Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. But nonviolent, first-time offenders who have not been accused of using the weapon in other crimes rarely receive serious prison time.

The workaday 30-minute hearing was held in a drab, second-floor courtroom before federal magistrate, Christopher J. Burke. Mr. Biden was released without any cash bond, and Judge Burke disclosed that Mr. Biden has continued to pass drug tests administered to him. No trial date was set.

The Hunter Biden Investigation
President Biden’s son Hunter has been under investigation since 2018 over his foreign dealings, drug use and finances.
The Unraveling of a Plea Deal: The investigation appeared to be near an end in June after Hunter Biden agreed to enter a plea agreement. Instead, his legal troubles got worse.
Special Counsel: Days after a judge delayed the deal, the prosecutor in the case was elevated to special counsel status, a stunning reversal. Still, the move might not change much in practice.
A Close Relationship: The possibility of a federal indictment of Hunter Biden stunned his father. But allies of the president say their bond is ironclad despite the potential political fallout.
Lawsuit Against Giuliani: Hunter Biden sued Rudolph Giuliani and Giuliani’s former lawyer for their roles in spreading his personal information from a laptop he left at a repair shop in Delaware.
Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said he intended to file a motion seeking to have the gun charges dismissed on procedural and constitutional grounds, and suggested he might also request an additional hearing to contest the government’s evidence.

“These charges are the result of political pressure from President Trump and his MAGA allies to force the Justice Department to ignore the law and deviate from its policies in cases like this one,” Mr. Lowell said in a statement after the hearing.

Mr. Lowell did most of the talking during the hearing. He entered Mr. Biden’s not guilty plea.

Mr. Biden, sporting a new close-cropped haircut, only spoke a few times, and then only to say “yes, your honor,” when Judge Burke asked him if he understood the charges and his conditions of release.

He left the courtroom through a side door without taking questions.

In late July, Mr. Biden arrived at the same courthouse with hopes of putting his legal problems behind him after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that would have ended a five-year investigation into both the weapons charges and separate allegations that he had failed to pay his income taxes on time. The gun case would have been resolved with what is known as a pretrial diversion agreement, under which Mr. Biden would not be prosecuted if he remained drug-free for 24 months and agreed never to own a firearm again.

But the plea agreement imploded under questioning from a federal judge about a provision that would have provided him a degree of immunity from further charges. Last month, federal prosecutors brought an indictment on the gun charges. Mr. Biden still faces the possibility of the Justice Department charging him in the tax investigation.

If Tuesday’s hearing was routine in legal terms, it again focused attention on Mr. Biden’s sometimes lurid personal problems as Republicans assail President Biden with unproven accusations of political favoritism in the Justice Department’s investigation into his son and seek to portray the Biden family as corrupt.

The decision to file criminal charges against Hunter Biden last month was an extraordinary move by the Justice Department and David C. Weiss, whom Attorney General Merrick B. Garland named as a special counsel for the case in August.

Republicans have sought to show that Mr. Biden’s foreign business dealings were backed by and benefited his father, and have based their preliminary impeachment inquiry of the president on his son’s activities. The first hearing in the House on the matter, held last week, yielded no new information about the president’s conduct — or any support for Republicans’ accusations that President Biden had been directly involved with his son’s business deals.

Mr. Weiss’s team has signaled that it continues to investigate elements of Mr. Biden’s business activities. Those most likely include whether his lucrative consulting work with companies based in Ukraine, China and Romania violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires disclosing lobbying activities for other countries.

Mr. Lowell has argued that the indictment on the gun charges should be thrown out. Mr. Weiss is still legally bound by the previous diversion agreement, Mr. Lowell has said, accusing him of caving to pressure from supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, who called the plea agreement a sweetheart deal.

Mr. Biden’s lawyers have also asserted that the gun charges will ultimately be thrown out because Supreme Court and appeals court decisions have cast doubt on the constitutionality of federal limits on firearms purchases.

[Capt]

YAWN, this is going to go away without hunter serving a day. They'll do whatever it takes to get him off the hook. Including taking the supreme court as a reason. Than afterwards an about face and go back jailing anyone else that does this

[bogey1]

C'mon man, it's not a joke.. 1/6

[JaySmith]

YAWN, this is going to go away without hunter serving a day. They'll do whatever it takes to get him off the hook. Including taking the supreme court as a reason. Than afterwards an about face and go back jailing anyone else that does this

It'll further the divide and have people care less about the laws.

[Capt]

They can't get hunter they're maxed out chasing Trump, and therin lies the joke even if it's not funny

[str8shooter]

My personal take is they have to indict now, but not have a trial until sleepy Joe is out of office. If the crack head is found guilty before 1/25/25 daddy will just pardon him.

[John_Wick]

I like how they keep painting him as the victim and telling everyone how rare it is for someone who does what he did to be prosecuted. If I did what he did, I'd be white-knuckling it while bent over a state-issued mattress for the next 10 years.

[buckengr]

If Biden's lawyers end up arguing that the lying on a 4473 charge should be tossed because the ban on drug users owning firearms is unconstitutional under Bruen, I will piss myself laughing. That is what they leaked to the press.

I'd love to see Biden v. US lead to gun control getting tossed. I don't care if he gets off on the gun charge if it reinforces the power of the Bruen decision and strengthens our 2A.

Hunter can still go to jail for his part in his father's treason and corruption racket.

[HanzMcFeely]

Convenient timing, after a ruling from SC saying illegal drug use does not bar one from owning/purchasing firearms on grounds that it restricts 2A rights