Hunter Biden plans to plead NOT GUILTY to charges he lied about being addicted to drugs when he bought a gun
Hunter Biden plans to plead NOT GUILTY to charges he lied about his drug addiction when he bought a gun
Hunter Biden plans to plead not guilty to federal gun charges, according to a new court filing.
Tuesday’s filing also says the president’s son is requesting to have his first court appearance remotely, via video conference.
Last week, Hunter was charged with three felonies after allegedly lying about his crack addiction when purchasing a gun in 2018 and faces up to 25 years in prison.
If the president’s son fails to reach a new plea deal with special counsel David Weiss’ prosecutors, he will face a jury trial, which would pose a huge political liability for his father Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election.
Hunter Biden plans to plead not guilty to federal gun charges
Attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter Tuesday to Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke saying Hunter would plead not guilty to all three charges.
He added that Hunter is “not seeking any special treatment” in making his first appearance request remotely.
“He has and will attend any proceeding in which his physical appearance is required.”
‘Mr. Biden will also plead not guilty, and there is no reason why he cannot say these two words via video conference,” the letter continued.
“In short, Mr. Biden is confident that his constitutional rights will be respected by conducting his first appearance via videoconference.”
According to the indictment unsealed last week, Hunter lied about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018.
The first son purchased a .38-caliber Colt Cobra pistol in Delaware, a state that requires any buyer to answer a series of questions before they can get their hands on a gun.
One of the 2018 application asks whether the applicant uses or is addicted to drugs. The box is clearly checked “no”.
Hunter admitted he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of purchasing the gun.
Video discovered on Hunter’s laptop shows him naked and brandishing a handgun in a hotel room in 2018, apparently five days after he purchased the weapon.
About two weeks later, his lover and brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, found it “unlocked” in his truck and threw it in a grocery store trash can. His discovery sparked a police investigation.
Additionally, now-President Biden appeared on the verge of tears in the voicemail left on Hunter’s abandoned laptop on October 15 – three days after Hunter purchased the gun and lied about his drug addiction – begging him to acquire help.
‘It’s dad. I called to tell you that I love you. I love you more than anyone, buddy,” Joe said in the Oct. 15 post. ‘You need to get help. I know you don’t know what to do, I don’t either.
He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted on all counts and could be fined $250,000.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out President Biden granting Hunter a pardon.
Hunter Biden is shown holding a gun from photos recovered from his abandoned laptop
Hunter faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Hunter admitted he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of purchasing the gun.
The White House is not commenting on new criminal charges against the president’s son, and Biden joked last week that he would get in “trouble” if he took questions from the press at the end of a speech economic.
Earlier this summer, Weiss’s team reached a plea deal that freed the president’s son from a prison sentence for the alleged gun crime and also for two tax crimes.
Republicans quickly called it a “sweetheart deal” designed to protect Joe.
However, the plea deal collapsed spectacularly in court in July, opening Hunter to new charges.
Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the “diversion agreement” in Hunter’s plea deal – a clause that granted him full immunity for a wide range of other potential charges, including illegal foreign lobbying – which killed the deal.