U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden appears in federal court on July 26, 2023 after completing a judicial trial into two counts of misdemeanor willful failure to pay income taxes in Wilmington, Delaware.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Federal prosecutors will ask a grand jury to indict President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, on gun-related charges by Sept. 29. court Submit on Wednesday.
The plan was brought to the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware six weeks after a plea bargain that had planned Hunter to plead guilty to tax crimes while avoiding a conviction on firearms charges fell apart as a result of the plea bargain, special counsel David This was revealed in a status report submitted by Wyeth. The judge questioned the terms.
Hunter’s lawyers later said Wednesday that the previous deferred prosecution agreement was still in effect on the firearms charges and that Hunter would have to be in trouble for two years before he could be charged with the charges, at which point the case would be closed. said to do.
Attorney Abby Lowell also said the deal would bar Weiss from making any further charges against Hunter.
The firearms charges, which Weiss intends to bring to a grand jury, bar illegal drug users from possessing firearms.
The constitutionality of that accusation, at least in some cases, was questioned last month by a panel of judges. 5th U.S. Court of Appeals for the CircuitA Mississippi man’s conviction was overturned after he was sentenced to prison for possessing a firearm while being a marijuana user.
The Board of Appeals ruled that the law applied to defendant Patrick Daniels Jr. in this case was the result of a 2022 Supreme Court decision that invalidated New York state laws regulating gun ownership as “violating the nation’s historical tradition.” He dismissed the conviction as inconsistent with the verdict. about firearms control. ”
Hunter remains indicted on two counts of failing to pay federal income taxes on annual income over $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018. He pleaded not guilty to these charges at a July 26 hearing in Delaware, where a plea bargain failed. separately.
Since then, Weiss’ office and attorneys have fought a court case over whether a prior agreement to spare Hunter from heavy weapons charges was in force.
Weiss’ Wednesday filing said federal law requires that if a prosecutor wants to file criminal charges against a defendant, they must do so within 30 days after the person is arrested or brought to court, unless the clock is stopped for various legal reasons. He pointed out that it is required to do so.
“The Speedy Trial Act requires the government to obtain the return of the indictment from the grand jury no later than Friday, September 29, 2023,” Weiss’ office wrote.
“The government intends to seek the return of the indictment in this case by that date. Therefore, the government does not consider any action by the courts necessary at this time.”
“We believe the diversion agreement signed and filed is correct,” Hunter’s attorney Lowell said in a statement. [on the gun charge] The agreement remains in effect and Mr Biden has adhered to the terms of his release under the agreement in recent weeks, including regular visits by the probation office, so no additional charges will be filed against him.”
“We look forward to a fair resolution of the massive five-year investigation against Mr Biden, based on evidence and law, not on external political pressure, and to achieve that, Mr Biden I will do what is necessary on my behalf,” Lowell said in a statement obtained by NBC News.
Hunter Biden, who had business ties to China and Ukraine, has long been the focus of Republican allegations of corruption involving him and his father.
Neither Biden has ever been indicted in connection with these allegations.
However, since 2018, Hunter Biden has been under criminal investigation by the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Weiss.
Weiss was appointed to the position by former President Donald Trump, who lost to Joe Biden for re-election in 2020. Trump is currently seeking a rematch with Biden as the Republican nominee in 2024.
Weiss infuriated Congressional Republicans in June by offering Hunter a plea bargain on relatively minor charges that would almost certainly keep him out of prison.
As part of that deal, Hunter agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor of delinquent income taxes.
He also agreed to a so-called pretrial diversion agreement, and abiding by the terms of the agreement would allow him to avoid being charged with felony firearm possession while being a drug addict.
On July 26, Hunter and prosecutors appeared before Judge Mariellen Noreika in Delaware federal court, where both sides hoped the agreement would be formalized.
Instead, the agreement collapsed after Noreika questioned prosecutors about its terms, specifically the condition that it asks a judge, not the Department of Justice, to determine whether Hunter complies with the two-year firearms diversion agreement. did.
The terms were widely seen as insurance against pressure on the Justice Department to find Hunter’s violations of the deal if Trump returned to the White House.
Noreika, himself appointed by Trump, gave Hunter’s lawyers and prosecutors time to redo the deal to address their concerns. However, those discussions failed.
Weiss last month asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint him as a special counsel for the case, to which Garland agreed.
Shortly after, Weiss said Hunter Biden would likely face trial in California or Washington, D.C. for tax crimes.
Hunter’s lawyers told Noreika last month that Weiss had broken a previously agreed deal on tax crimes. Defense attorneys also argued that the firearms diversion agreement remained “valid and binding.”
Weiss’s office said gun control was now off the agenda and void because it was not signed by the U.S. Probation Service.
But in a separate court filing on Wednesday, Hunter’s lawyers still believed there was a deal, and said Hunter was complying with its terms.