Hunter Biden will plead not guilty to three federal gun charges, according to a filing with a Delaware court Tuesday, the Daily Wire reported. The son of President Joe Biden was almost off the hook for the alleged crimes until the plea deal previously struck with prosecutors fell apart.
Hunter Biden's legal team gave advance warning of the plea and also asked that the first appearance happen over video call. "We write on behalf of our client, Robert Hunter Biden, in response to the Court’s Order issued on September 18, 2023, related to Mr. Biden’s initial appearance," Abbe Lowell, one of Hunter Biden's attorneys, said in a letter to Christopher Burke, U.S. Magistrate Judge from the District of Delaware.
"We respectfully request that the Court hold Mr. Biden’s initial appearance in this matter by video conference." Lowell maintains that this would help with logistics since the younger Biden's Secret Service detail requires "numerous agents and vehicles are required for what would have to be a two-day event (for a proceeding that may be very short in duration)."
The younger Biden is facing felony charges after allegedly lying on an application to obtain a firearm. A question on the form asked whether the purchaser had a drug problem, and Hunter Biden answered as if he did not.
However, the application was made in October 2018 when, according to his memoir, Hunter Biden was in the throes of a crack cocaine addiction. Special counsel David Weiss filed the charges against him after the earlier plea deal did not hold up in court.
Previously, the deal he struck with prosecutors allowed Hunter Biden to enter a diversion program. He not only would have avoided jail time, but the younger Biden also could have had the charges stricken completely from his record.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika was forced to vacate the agreement based on the immunity terms Hunter Biden would receive under the deal. “I will not accept or reject this plea deal," Noreika said to the court in July after learning that it included immunity from future crimes, according to the Washington Times.
"It seems to me like you are saying, ‘Just rubber-stamp the agreement, Your Honor,'" she added. Now, Hunter Biden will have to answer for the charges that could put him behind bars for up to 25 years.
This shockingly light penalty is in sharp contrast to the gravity of the alleged crime. According to the indictment, Hunter Biden "knowing that he was an unlawful user of and addicted to any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance … did knowingly possess a firearm, that is, a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver."
While it's a step in the right direction, Republicans are outraged that this crime seems to have intentionally been cherry-picked from an array of possible indictments, The Hill reported. "This, the gun charge, is the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden," former Trump posted on his Truth Social.
“One down, Eleven to go!" he added. "The Democrats, with all of their horrible, very unfair, and mostly illegal Witch Hunts, have started a process that is very dangerous for our Country," Trump said.
"They have opened the proverbial Pandora’s Box, and it is possible that the USA will never be the same again. SO SAD!!!"
GOP candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy similarly shared his frustration with the "smokescreen" they created. "This is a fig leaf designed to deflect attention away from the real problem: the Biden family is selling out U.S. foreign policy for their own family’s private financial gain," Ramaswamy wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The fact that Hunter Biden received such a sweetheart deal is proof that the Justice Department is unfathomably corrupt and partisan. He'll face a trial for these gun charges, but it only scratches the surface compared to what else is being alleged.
