Hunter Biden’s legal team is pushing to get his indictment thrown out, but the government isn’t having it. Here’s what’s happening in the latest twist of this high-profile case.
Hunter, President Joe Biden’s son, is facing charges for illegally buying a gun and not paying $1.4 million in taxes. But late Sunday night, President Biden pardoned him, saying the charges were politically motivated and calling the whole situation a “miscarriage of justice.” This pardon spares Hunter from sentencing in both cases, but there’s still more drama unfolding.
On Monday, Special Counsel David Weiss from the U.S. Department of Justice filed a formal request with Judge Maryellen Noreika, the same judge overseeing Hunter’s gun case in Wilmington, Delaware. Weiss urged the court to deny Hunter’s motion to dismiss the charges. His argument? The charges were based on solid evidence and not, as Hunter’s team claims, on politics or unfair targeting.
“The government acknowledges that Hunter Biden received a pardon, but that doesn’t erase the fact that the grand jury found enough evidence to charge him,” Weiss wrote in his filing. “His claims of selective prosecution are baseless, and no court has supported them.”
On the other hand, Hunter’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell from Washington, D.C., is arguing the opposite. Lowell points out that most courts do dismiss indictments in situations like this. “Even the Special Counsel admits that the majority of courts would support dismissing an indictment after a pardon,” Lowell said. “That’s exactly why we believe this case should be thrown out.”
Hunter’s legal troubles stem from two big cases. In the first, a jury in Wilmington found him guilty back in June of lying while buying a gun. They decided he made false statements on paperwork and illegally owned the firearm while struggling with drug addiction. This case is particularly striking because Hunter’s addiction, detailed in his 2021 memoir Beautiful Things, was severe. He admitted to using crack cocaine so frequently he nicknamed himself “crack daddy” and had constant run-ins with drug dealers, like one in Washington, D.C., he called “Bicycles.”
The second case revolves around Hunter’s taxes. He was charged in Los Angeles with not paying $1.4 million in taxes on time, racking up multiple felony and misdemeanor charges. As jury selection was about to start in September, Hunter surprised everyone by pleading guilty.
Now, the court has to decide what to do with these charges, given the presidential pardon. While Hunter’s legal team argues that the pardon clears him, the government insists the charges still stand, at least symbolically, because they were valid when brought.
It’s a battle of legal interpretations, and all eyes are on how the court in Wilmington will rule. This case, already in the spotlight, is shaping up to be yet another chapter in the complicated public and legal life of the Biden family.
