Emmanuel OchayiIn a shocking turn of events, Hunter Biden, son of US President, Joe Biden, has been hit with three federal counts of gun offenses, marking a significant escalation in the legal challenges surrounding the first family.
The charges, filed in Delaware federal court, include false statements related to firearm purchases and possession by an “unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.”
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The indictment follows the collapse of a previous deal Hunter Biden had made with federal prosecutors to resolve the charge of possessing a firearm while using a controlled substance. This new indictment adds two additional counts to his legal woes.
The political stakes have been raised as US Attorney-General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss, a US attorney appointed by Donald Trump, as a special counsel to oversee cases involving the president’s son.
This move grants Weiss greater independence in pursuing his investigation, further intensifying the politically sensitive case.
These fresh charges place added pressure on President Joe Biden, who is preparing for a re-election bid in 2024 while dealing with Republican scrutiny of his son’s addiction issues, legal problems, and business dealings.
Interestingly, these developments occurred just days after Republican Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, launched an impeachment inquiry on the president, alleging that he “lied to the American people” about his knowledge of his son’s business dealings.
Both the White House and Hunter Biden’s legal representatives have remained tight-lipped in response to these developments, while the US attorney’s office in Delaware declined to comment.
Earlier this year, federal prosecutors announced that Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to federal tax-related misdemeanors and enter a “pretrial diversion agreement” for another firearm charge. However, these agreements faced unexpected challenges when a Delaware judge raised doubts about their terms, leading to a stalemate with prosecutors.
The gun charges stem from Hunter Biden’s purchase of a Colt Cobra revolver in 2018, during which he provided a false statement regarding his controlled substance use. These three counts carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, although actual sentences often fall below the maximum.
President Joe Biden and the White House have maintained a careful distance from commenting directly on Hunter Biden’s legal issues. Instead, they’ve consistently expressed their support for their son’s journey to rebuild his life. In his first public comments on the impeachment probe, President Biden emphasized his focus on the issues affecting the American people, distancing himself from the impeachment proceedings.
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