Special Counsel: Hunter Biden To Be Indicted On Gun Charge
[guest post by Dana]
David C. Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, said on Wednesday that he planned to indict the president’s son on a gun charge before the end of the month — a move prompted by the acrimonious collapse of a plea deal in July.
In a three-page update filed in federal court in Wilmington, Del., Mr. Weiss laid out plans to bring charges related to Mr. Biden’s purchase of a pistol in 2018, when prosecutors say he lied on a federal form by stating that he was not using drugs at the time. Mr. Biden had previously agreed to participate in a two-year diversion program for nonviolent gun offenders as part of the plea deal, which unraveled dramatically at the last minute this summer.
Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, signaled in a statement that he would challenge any effort to proceed with a trial, arguing that the original agreement reached over the summer “remains valid and prevents any additional charges from being filed.”
The government’s filing, while expected, adds an additional and volatile element to an already packed calendar of criminal cases coinciding — and colliding — with the 2024 presidential race. It piles on a possible federal trial of President Biden’s son to former President Donald J. Trump’s two federal and two state criminal cases.
As a reminder, this was the opening paragraph from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s statement about Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing David Weiss to investigate Hunter Biden:
“Today’s move by Merrick Garland to appoint David Weiss as Special Counsel to investigate (and in reality cover up) Hunter Biden’s criminal career is the latest action in a continuous pattern of corrupt behavior by Joe Biden and his regime. Behavior typically only seen in juntas in third-world nations or early twentieth-century dictatorships in Europe…This is a cover-up, plain and simple…
Because that’s what the presidential 2024 race needs: even more craziness with these extraordinary circumstances (assuming it comes down to Biden and Trump):
The government’s filing…adds an additional and volatile element to an already packed calendar of criminal cases coinciding — and colliding — with the 2024 presidential race. It piles on a possible federal trial of President Biden’s son to former President Donald J. Trump’s two federal and two state criminal cases.
Prosecutors did not reveal how many charges would be brought.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (4020dd) — 9/6/2023 @ 5:02 pmHe can still get the same deal, I think. Christie was wrong, at the debate, about 18 USC 922(g) having a mandatory minimum. It does have a consecutive to any other sentence requirement.
nk (6c45b4) — 9/6/2023 @ 8:07 pmToo early for the victory lap around MTG. Mr. Weiss telegraphed his move 26 days in advance for a reason, and that reason is probably “lets make a deal”. MTG will claim any deal that doesn’t include incriminating evidence on Hunter’s dad as third world junta behavior. I am assuming as a useful idiot of Putin, she’d be in favor of any or both Biden’s flying out of windows.
steveg (e4c2c7) — 9/6/2023 @ 8:53 pmI think Hunter has said and taken photos over and over that show he possessed a gun while using prohibited narcotics (5 year max) in addition to the 10 year max lying on the FFL form charge. What I don’t know is if he has photos of himself with the gun and enough drugs to make that a problem for him.
steveg (e4c2c7) — 9/6/2023 @ 9:19 pmI sort of want to see Hunter get a felony knock just to see if his Dad steps up and makes it go away. I think at worst Hunter gets a felony conviction so no gun ownership and he maybe gets 1 year house arrest, regular drug tests (where the Secret Service guys will protect him by whizzing in a cup for him). I’m also shocked none of Hunter’s Secret Service Team has ever tested dirty via second hand crack…
There is also the unregistered foreign agent issue.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/6/2023 @ 9:58 pmI don’t think this will be another whitewash. Weiss can’t be wanting to look like Biden’s stooge.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/6/2023 @ 10:01 pmThis seems like a good development. 🙂
Time123 (059f66) — 9/7/2023 @ 6:41 amI’m sorry. Couldn’t he have gotten this indictment in a day or two? Why say “I’m going to indict” rather than just indicting ? Good lord this is such a government operation.
Harvey’s Potted Plant (884d42) — 9/7/2023 @ 7:08 amAnnouncing it ahead of time seems… weird.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
whembly (5f7596) — 9/7/2023 @ 7:55 amIf the government finally locks up Hunter, then will the GOP entertain the idea that Trump should face some accountability? Or will it just trigger more goalpost moving? Asking for a friend.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 9/7/2023 @ 8:06 amTrump will probably promise to pardon Hunter, just to get another headline.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 8:33 amExpect more charges on Biden’s opposition any day now.
NJRob (f988fb) — 9/7/2023 @ 9:21 am@10, any sentence will be deemed a slap on the wrist or asserted as the basis for unfair retribution. MAGA views pretty much everything through a lens of conspiracy theories and a persecution complex.
Time123 (bc10c3) — 9/7/2023 @ 9:55 amWeiss was under a court order to provide a status report on his investigation:
As a first-time offender without any other felony charges, Hunter Biden is unlikely to serve any prison time. In addition, the fact he may be charged for lying on Form 4473 is an outlier:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/7/2023 @ 10:10 amRip, The explanation on the serious trouble podcast was that this gun charge is rarely bought and usually is an add on to other charges or is brought when the defendant gets LEO attention for other things. So while it’s not a common charge it doesn’t seem inappropriate for the Hunter Biden charge.
Time123 (bc10c3) — 9/7/2023 @ 10:38 amIt depends if there are other charges. If not, it looks like the result of political pressure.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/7/2023 @ 10:56 am@14: The ATF begs to differ
Case histories follow.
But of course this doesn’t happen everywhere.
Still, the part I bolded above explains why. In Biden’s case there IS not only a paper trail, but his own admissions in print, so it would seem to fall into the easily-proven group most likely to be prosecuted. Plus the tax cheating and foreign agent stuff.
(mistakenly posted to open thread)
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:03 amAll of the examples are of persons who were charged with lying while committing other crimes (such as being deemed incompetent, felons in possession ammunition, previous convictions, etc.) rather than a single purchase without any of additional factors.
Interestingly, federal courts have started striking down the drug user prohibition as unconstitutional. See here , here, and here.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:32 amHarvey’s Potted Plant (884d42) — 9/7/2023 @ 7:08 am
Maybe an indictment kickstarts a timetable into operation – also they could be perfecting their charge.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:38 amKevin M (ed969f) — 9/6/2023 @ 10:01 pm
He already does, or did with the IRS whistleblowers and the sweetheart lea deal. Now maybe it wasn’t quite like that. He’s trying to get out from under that suspicion.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:41 amRip, I’d claim that his exhibitionist use of drugs at the time was an additional feature, even if tax evasion and unlawful lobbying and influence peddling were not.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:42 amMaybe an indictment kickstarts a timetable into operation – also they could be perfecting their charge.
As stated above, he was responding to the Court’s demand for an update.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:43 amBut, Rip, one of the reasons that felons-in-possession is prosecuted more is that their status is easy to prove. Drug addiction generally is not, unless they have the drugs and the gun at the same time. With Hunter, he made no secret of his drug use and even brandished a weapon on video while smoking crack. That makes it an exception to the hard-to-prove rule; of course a jury might disagree.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:46 amsteveg (e4c2c7) — 9/6/2023 @ 9:19 pm
That he did, including one showing him driving with the speedometer showing 172 miles per hour! He won’t get a speeding ticket for that, though.
I haven’t heard of anything that showed him with that gun. He had that gun (including the period it spent in a dumpster and so on where his sister-in-law had discarded it because she was afraid he would use it to commit suicide) for a period of about 12 days in October, 2018, while he was in Delaware.
I wouldn’t know if any of these photos are datestamped or have any of what could be reliable date information in the EXIF information but Hunter has conceded he was a more or less continuous drug user till some point in 2019.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12341307/Hunter-Biden-divulges-extent-drug-alcohol-use-Presidents-addict-son-reveals-rehab-SIX-times-20-years-dramatic-court-appearance.html
Sober seems to include alcohol, but is not covered by the law.
Hunter’s lawyers say that the plea bargain is inviolable, and cannot be revoked, and that Hunter has been complying with his end of the bargain.
Neither Hunter nor Joe had Secret Service protection at the time he owned that gun, but they somehow intervened.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/11/secret-service-puzzled-by-intervention-in-hunter-biden-gun-buy
The gun store owner refused to hand over the paperwork because they weren’t the proper agency.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/25/sources-secret-service-inserted-itself-into-case-of-hunter-bidens-gun-477879
Who called whom in the Secret Service in October 2018 may still be part of what Weiss is investigating.
Sammy Finkelman (7a85f9) — 9/7/2023 @ 12:11 pmKevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 11:43 am
That was in reference to the question of why he was waiting to indict him instead of indicting him already.
I think the law was passed because drug users often need a lot of money; are not particular about abiding by the law; and might use the gun to steal.
In Hunter’s case he was involved in white collar crimes, though, so what he did is not what the law was aimed at..
Anti-gun control people like to point to lack of prosecution as a way of attacking the idea of stricter gun laws. They even want people who were turned down by the system, and did not get a gun, to be prosecuted, or claim, for purposes of argument, that they do.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/7/2023 @ 12:18 pmThanks Sammy
steveg (85f174) — 9/7/2023 @ 7:33 pmI think I’ve seen those side by side phot0s with Hunter carrying a semi auto pistol and on the side by side photo he’s got a crack pipe in his mouth enough times and began to conflate them.
Appreciate the correction.
By the way, the handgun that got Hunter in trouble was a .38 revolver correct? So whose semi auto handgun is that in the photos?
I think the law was passed because drug users often need a lot of money; are not particular about abiding by the law; and might use the gun to steal.
Or maybe because they are generally irresponsible and not law-abiding citizens. Drug addiction is a limited form of insanity — one that people do recover from — but people driven insane by their need for a drug are poor custodians of weapons.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 8:08 pm#27 see photos of Hunter high and about 1/4 inch from shooting himself in the calf. In the song “Smugglers Blues” there is a line “you got to carry weapons ’cause you’re always carrying cash” along with “lots of shady characters, lots of dirty deals”. Hunter probably started out as a soft rich kid target and realized he needed a firearm… heck, maybe that was advice from his federal protection detail, who knows. Anyway I think Hunter was irresponsible, yes, but beyond that Hunter was showing a willingness to use deadly force in pursuit of his habit. Most urban homicides involve drug territory, drugs, and/or drug money and a significant amount of those homicides are of innocent bystanders. Crackhead waving gun at ripoff crew, what could go wrong
steveg (85f174) — 9/7/2023 @ 8:36 pmmaybe that was advice from his federal protection detail, who knows.
That would be an interesting defense.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 9/7/2023 @ 10:31 pmSammy,
watch his videos brandishing guns. It’s a different gun that what he illegally purchased. So that’s multiple gun crimes he committed.
NJRob (cada8f) — 9/8/2023 @ 8:26 amIt’s not the grievance that makes Tuberville a c*ck [once favorite word of Trump supporters meaning betrayed spouse], it’s the remedy he thinks he has found. Like the betrayed husband going to the other man’s house and throwing a rock through his neighbor’s window.
Those soldiers whose promotions are being held up just work there. They’re not responsible for the policy. But that would stress Tuberville’s brain. His constituents’ too.
nk (6c45b4) — 9/8/2023 @ 9:54 amSorry. Wrong thread.
nk (6c45b4) — 9/8/2023 @ 9:55 amNJRob (cada8f) — 9/8/2023 @ 8:26 am
I don’t know where I can get them.
Not automatically.
The gun could have belonged to somebody else, and a gun owner letting someone else handle a gun is not a crime (except maybe when someone is under a strict court order not to possess one. Barry Seal, in the 1980s, was actually ordered not to have armed bodyguards.)
Still, I doubt they tried to investigate how he had that gun or checked for any form he signed, if there is a way to do that.
Sammy Finkelman (2e2a56) — 9/8/2023 @ 11:03 am“I doubt they tried to investigate how he had that gun or checked for any form he signed, if there is a way to do that”
steveg (cfbaee) — 9/8/2023 @ 12:00 pmI don’t know about this. Where I live, the investigators are pretty thorough and smart enough to know the difference between a .38 revolver and the semi automatic in the photo.
They’d probably ask Hunter the question where’d you get this firearm and Hunter is smart enough to say “I’m a crackhead. My memory of entire months is gone except crack, crack, booze and crack.” but it never hurts to ask.
Hunter probably just declined to be interviewed -about anything. 5th amendment. he later spoke through his lawyers.
Sammy Finkelman (c42fa7) — 9/9/2023 @ 6:13 pm