US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, has been indicted on Thursday for allegedly purchasing a gun illegally while under the influence of drugs. This development casts a new shadow over his father’s reelection campaign next year.
Hunter Biden, aged 53, has been charged with two counts of making false statements on the forms required for the gun purchase in 2018. These forms required him to declare that he was not using drugs illegally at the time.
In addition, a third charge alleges that, based on these false statements, he illegally possessed the gun for an 11-day period in October of that year.
If convicted on all three felony charges, Biden could theoretically face up to 25 years in prison. However, it is uncommon for individuals convicted of these crimes to receive jail time as punishment.
The Justice Department stated that Biden knowingly made false statements when he claimed not to be an unlawful drug user at the time of purchasing the Colt Cobra revolver.
This indictment comes just two days after Republicans in Congress initiated an impeachment probe against Democrat Joe Biden. They allege that while he was vice president, he financially benefited from his son’s foreign business dealings.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles present an opportunity for political rivals of his father, who is seeking a second term in the White House.
Although Hunter is a Yale-trained lawyer and a lobbyist-turned-artist, his life has been marred by struggles with alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction.
Republicans have accused Biden’s Justice Department of protecting his son, despite no evidence to support their claims. They have also accused Weiss, a Republican appointee, of giving Hunter special treatment.
Representative James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky leading the impeachment inquiry, welcomed the filing of the gun charges. He described it as a “very small start.”
Comer stated, “Mountains of evidence reveal that Hunter Biden likely committed several felonies, and Americans expect the Justice Department to apply the law equally.”
Former President Donald Trump commented on his Truth Social platform, saying, “This gun charge is the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden.”
Plea Deal Collapsed
Keisha Lance Bottoms, a prominent Democrat who served as the mayor of Atlanta and a former senior adviser to Joe Biden, questioned the decision to charge Hunter.
She took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and asked, “Can anyone tell me how many people have been federally indicted for purchasing a gun while dealing with substance abuse issues? In my over 29 years as an attorney, I have never heard of it.”
The gun charges were filed by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss, who has been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018 for various allegations, mostly related to his overseas business deals.
A plea deal between Biden and Weiss, covering the gun charge and alleged tax violations, fell through two months ago.
Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two minor tax charges in federal court in Delaware. In exchange, he was offered probation as he had already paid what he owed, along with penalties.
Weiss agreed to suspend the felony gun charge if Biden completed “pretrial diversion,” which typically involves counseling or rehabilitation.
However, during a dramatic hearing on July 26, the deal fell apart over the issue of whether Biden would be immune from additional charges related to his business dealings in Ukraine, China, and other countries, which Weiss was also investigating.
The judge mentioned the possibility of Biden being charged for acting as a lobbyist for foreign governments without registering with the Justice Department.
Three weeks later, after the deal collapsed, Weiss dropped the tax charges and announced that an indictment on the gun charge would be filed by the end of September.
As the 2024 election race gains momentum, Republicans in the House of Representatives officially launched an impeachment inquiry against President Biden on Tuesday.
Their allegations, which lack concrete evidence, claim that Biden intervened to protect allegedly corrupt Ukrainian energy company Burisma while he was vice president from 2015 to 2016—during which time Hunter Biden served on the board. Republicans allege that the Bidens profited significantly from their association with Burisma.