Current:Home > FinanceHunter Biden returns to court in Delaware and is expected to plead not guilty to gun charges -AssetTrainer
Hunter Biden returns to court in Delaware and is expected to plead not guilty to gun charges
View
Date:2025-04-16 09:49:12
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden is due back in a Delaware courtroom Tuesday, where he’s expected to plead not guilty to federal firearms charges that emerged after his earlier deal collapsed.
The president’s son is facing charges that he lied about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days.
He’s acknowledged struggling with an addiction to crack cocaine during that period, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law. Gun charges like these are rare, and an appeals court has found the ban on drug users having guns violates the Second Amendment under new Supreme Court standards.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys are suggesting that prosecutors bowed to pressure by Republicans who have insisted the president’s son got a sweetheart deal, and the charges were the result of political pressure.
He was indicted after the implosion this summer of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors on tax and gun charges. The deal devolved after the judge who was supposed to sign off on the agreement instead raised a series of questions about the deal. Federal prosecutors had been looking into his business dealings for five years and the agreement would have dispensed with criminal proceedings before his father was actively campaigning for president in 2024.
Now, a special counsel has been appointed to handle the case and there appears no easy end in sight. No new tax charges have yet been filed, but the special counsel has indicated they could come in California or Washington.
In Congress, House Republicans are seeking to link Hunter Biden’s dealings to his father’s through an impeachment inquiry. Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden for years, since his father was vice president. While questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business, no evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes.
The legal wrangling could spill into 2024, with Republicans eager to divert attention from the multiple criminal indictments faced by GOP primary frontrunner Donald Trump, whose trials could be unfolding at the same time.
After remaining silent for years, Hunter Biden has taken a more aggressive legal stance in recent weeks, filing a series of lawsuits over the dissemination of personal information purportedly from his laptop and his tax data by whistleblower IRS agents who testified before Congress as part of the GOP probe.
The president’s son, who has not held public office, is charged with two counts of making false statements and one count of illegal gun possession, punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Under the failed deal, he would have pleaded guilty and served probation rather than jail time on misdemeanor tax charges and avoided prosecution on a single gun count if he stayed out of trouble for two years.
Defense attorneys have argued that he remains protected by an immunity provision that was part of the scuttled plea agreement, but prosecutors overseen by special counsel David Weiss disagree. Weiss also serves as U.S. Attorney for Delaware and was originally appointed by Trump.
Hunter Biden, who lives in California, had asked for Tuesday’s hearing to be conducted remotely over video feed but U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke sided with prosecutors, saying there would be no “special treatment.”
veryGood! (4)
Related
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Fires on Indonesia’s Sumatra island cause smoky haze, prompting calls for people to work from home
- School culture wars push students to form banned book clubs, anti-censorship groups
- Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady Face Off in Playful Bidding War at Charity Event
- San Francisco names street for Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic Iwo Jima photo
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says last-minute disaster assistance is unconscionable after record-breaking rain
- When does daylight saving time end 2023? Here's when to set your clocks back an hour
- Germany bans decades-old neo-Nazi group Artgemeinschaft, accused of trying to raise new enemies of the state
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- DNA helps identify killer 30 years after Florida woman found strangled to death
Ranking
- Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
- Kevin Porter barred from Houston Rockets after domestic violence arrest in New York
- New Van Gogh show in Paris focuses on artist’s extraordinarily productive and tragic final months
- Taco Bell worker hospitalized after angry customer opens fire inside Charlotte restaurant
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Beyoncé announces Renaissance Tour concert film: 'Start over, start fresh, create the new'
- Powerball jackpot grows as no winners were drawn Saturday. When is the next drawing?
- Powerball jackpot grows to estimated $1.04 billion, fourth-largest prize in game's history
Recommendation
Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
Beyoncé Announces Renaissance World Tour Film: See the Buzz-Worthy Trailer
Stevie Nicks enters the Barbie zeitgeist with her own doll: 'They helped her have my soul'
Gaetz plans to oust McCarthy from House speakership after shutdown vote: 5 Things podcast
Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
Suspect arrested in murder of Sarah Ferguson's former personal assistant in Dallas
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes bill that would give striking workers unemployment pay
FAA, NTSB investigating Utah plane crash that reportedly killed North Dakota senator