Hunter Biden Indicted on Federal Gun Charges
The charges stem from Hunter’s purchase of a firearm in 2018.
The Grand Jury for the District of Delaware indicted Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges.
The charges stem from Hunter’s purchase of a firearm in 2018.
Special Counsel David Weiss brought forth the charges. He’s the U.S. attorney who charged Hunter earlier, but fell apart because of the sweetheart deal he tried to give him.
The Charges
A gun purchaser fills out a form, which includes a question about not being “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.”
The purchaser is responsible for certifying his or her answers as “true, correct, and complete.”
The purchaser does so by signing his or her name to the statement, “I understand that a person who answers yes to [Question 11.e] is prohibited from purchasing or receiving a firearm.” Then the person acknowledges that “making any false oral or written statement…is a crime punishable as a felony under Federal law, and may also violate State and/or local law.”
The FFL holder must keep the records, too.
The alleged crime occurred on October 12, 2018, when Hunter bought a Colt Cobra 38SPL.
The first count accuses Hunter of knowingly making “a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm under the provisions of Chapter 44, Title 18, United States Code.” Hunter signed the statement certifying no use or addiction to drugs, knowing it was “false and fictitious.”
The second count alleges Hunter made the false statement on the form meant “to be kept in the FFL holder’s records.”
The third count alleges that while Hunter knew “he was an unlawful user and addicted” to drugs, he “knowingly possess[ed] a firearm” that had “been shipped and transported in interstate commerce.”
Hunter Biden Circus
So back in July, we all expected Hunter Biden to plead guilty to three charges: two counts of tax information and one firearm felony count.
The prosecution’s sweetheart deal allowed Hunter to avoid jail time on the tax charges. He entered into a diversionary agreement on the gun charge.
A diversionary agreement contains “formal terms and conditions” that Hunter would “fulfill in order to have the charges against him/ her dismissed.”
The agreement is not plea bargaining. The diversion “is a means to avoid a judgment of criminal guilt.”
Well, the plea deal fell apart because the Weiss and defense tried to slip in protection from any future prosecution.
US District Judge Maryellen Noreika said no way to the “broad immunity.” The government also admitted that it still had Hunter under a federal investigation.
Hunter ended up pleading not guilty.
After that fiasco, Weiss supposedly told Attorney General Merrick Garland that “his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel, and he asked to be appointed.”
It’s a joke because a special counsel should be “a semi-independent federal prosecutor.”
Weiss was the original prosecutor. He tried to give Hunter “blanket immunity.”
A special counsel is usually appointed “when an investigation would raise the appearance of a conflict of interest for the department or when there is some other reason it would be in the public interest to appoint an outside prosecutor.”
Um, how is Weiss an outside prosecutor?
Anyway, the show must go on!
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Comments
Case dismissed in 3…2…1…
Or pardoned, But the point is it will never go to trial. Certainly not on the same accelerated schedule as President Trumps. In fact, it will probably last until corrupt Joe leaves office, and that’s when the pardon will issue. And as an aside, if anyone thought the impeachment inquiry was going to really amount to anything, Hunter is key and guess what? he now is untouchable as a witness..
Oh please, Hunter just need plead guilty and I assure you that the Judge will give him a slap-on-the-wrist, sweetheart deal of a punishment that will of course made darn sure he avoids any federal prison crime for his lie on the gun application and being a drug addict/felon(?) in possession of a weapon. And that will be it. Case closed never to be mentioned again.
Yep…because “Biden loves his son”.
I believe Hunter has to be convicted first, in order to receive a pardon.
Dismissal or a plea are more likely outcomes. He will never serve a day in prison, unlike if you or I committed the same offense. He’s a Biden, don’tcha know?
No he doesn’t. Nixon was given a blanket pardon and was never convicted of anything.
The validity of Ford’s blanket pardon of Nixon was questionable at best. It was what the nation needed at the time though.
It was never tested in court because the Dems already had their victory and beating that dead horse would have offended Americans of all political persuasions.
For those too young to remember, that used to matter.
Questionable. uh by whom exactly? And just so you know, one can find a politically biased legal pundit to question anything. Lawyers by definition pretty much lack integrity, or I should say, their integrity is for sale. Ask Lawrence Tribe. Or Jack Smith. Or Judge Chutkan.
A “pardon” doesn’t keep a case from coming to court if the state so desires.
Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79 (1915),
– A pardoned person must introduce the pardon into court proceedings (which presumes the pardoned accepts guilt), otherwise the pardon must be disregarded by the court.
So, unless one posits that Nixon would have acknowledged guilt in court the supposed pardon relies on the state not pursuing the case.
I appreciate your interest old precedent but I’m afraid someone is misleading you (one of the aforementioned legal hacks?) The case you note upholds precedent that conditioned the validity of a pardon upon acceptance and delivery. Now the validity of the pardon in that case had been challenged on a number of grounds, including that the pardon power required a judgment of conviction or confession, but the Court quite specifically declined to rule on that. In other words, that ain’t the law.
Legal Hack?.
Now if one wants to discuss “amnesty”, play on. I’ll get you started:
Perhaps a legal hack might help you out.
I fear you may be reading the syllabus and not the case. The syllabus is written by the court reporter. It is not the decision. The language you refer to in no way limited the Court’s holding on the scope of the pardon power. That was part of the Court’s analysis on the question of whether the appellant in that case could refuse to testify on the ground that his testimony may have an incriminating effect notwithstanding that he rejected the immunity offered by a pardon. (Yes he could, by the way) This is not precedent holding that conviction or confession is required for a pardon to be effective. That is is just wrong. Wrong in 1915, wrong today. I’m trying to be nice so please don’t make me write that again.
The world awaits with bated breath to find out exactly what the court will sentence Hunter to write on the blackboard 100 times.
If he’s allowed to keep that blackboard he will sell it for $500,000 and fail to pay tax on it.
“No one is above the law.” That’s my guess.
Anyone believe that this is anything other than a variation of the dog and pony show like the last plea deal? If so, I have a bridge to sell you!
But no charges for selling out the USA….
S a tly
Sorry, exactly
Hunter will be convicted and be out while being appealed
before leaving office, Kamala wil pardon Hunter and the rest of the Bidens
and anyone else that needs one
the list will not be short
Joe ego would never allow himself to issue all the pardons
His plan is too keep lying to the American people until he’s in the ground
If Joe goes into the ground before his term ends, Kamala will throw Hunter under the bus. Remember, she is a ruthless Democrat.
he’s probably got a pardon in his top drawer for Hunter, just in case
Hunter told Joe to do this and what Hunter says, goes
it has ever since Joe took the first dirty dollar from Hunter
Hunter captured his dad dad has been running him ever since
one way or another , Hunter will be pardoned and never see inside of a cell
Now no other charges will be filed against Hunter, leading to a call for leniency on sentencing. Nothing involving the Big Guy will be filed.
Joe will soon sleep the deep sleep of infinity where all the woes will follow him to the JFK solution.
Someone more familiar with 2A jurisprudence than I am can correct me if I’m wrong. But, isn’t the statute that is being used against Biden – the one that criminalizes gun ownership for ‘drug addicts’ – currently being challenged in court as facially unconstitutional and that challenge looks promising?
If that’s correct, this is all kabuki theater…and Weiss knows it.
Yes. And now all the DOJ has to do is weakly defend the statute or even stipulate that it is unconstitutional. And as the drug user prohibition is rarely used anyway, no big loss for their side.
Oh and courts tossing the statute gives Biden and the control crowd another thing to attack the “MAGA courts” with.
Oh, not true. Just last month or so, the mother of the Richmond tot who brought her gun to school and deliberately shot his teacher was prosecuted on exactly this count: concurrent drug and gun possession. They are not stingy in charging under this law when it suits their purposes.
They are not stingy at prosecuting ANYTHING if it suits their purposes.
Yes and no. The statute that says a drug user cannot buy a gun is currently under attack. However, the statement Hunter signed was under penalty of perjury, and the perjury laws are not under reconsideration at the moment. Of course, everything hinges on which count he is indicted on, and democrat prosecutors aren’t stupid.
I was listening to a podcast with Sol Wisenberg and a few other lawyers where this came up. The consensus was if the 5th Circuit case was sustained by SCOTUS, the perjury case would also go away because the Court would be saying that it was unconstitutional to even ask the question about drugs.
It’s not the fact that he was a user of illegal drugs, it’s that he lied about it on a federal form. It’s one of the many perjury trap questions on the 4473. They’re generally used to stack more charges on a person they bust on a firearms charge.
Where are the tax evasion charges? Think Animal House and the scene where everybody coughs “blow job”.
Remember – the Feds already have an Immunity Deal in place with Hunter.
The Immunity Deal was not part of the Plea Deal. It was a separate signed contract. Hunter cannot be charged by any Federal prosecutor with any of the crimes he has received immunity from.
I keep hearing people say this, but I’ve seen no evidence of it. As far as I know, the only immunity deal that was on the table was the one that the judge looked cross-eyed at and rejected. Since immunity deals have to be approved by judges, not just offered by prosecutors, I don’t believe there’s any such a deal in actual force.
To the contrary, this is the start of the end for the Bidens.
I’ve heard the same thing said about the Clintons, and Obamas, yet they keep on acting as the powers behind the idiot despot.
Yeah, but this is about Bidens, no one else. Along with Ignatius opening the door, and the impending impeachment investigation, among other things, more will join the chorus, the current MSM disinformation campaign notwithstanding.
At this point the Dems are starting to realize what a disaster Biden is going to be for them and the not so quiet voices are beginning to remove him from 2024. I think Biden will announce in the not so distant future that he will not run again due to health reasons or some other made up nonsense.
Whatever. Let’s get this over with. Hunter needs to plead guilty to the crime and then the liberal democrat Judge needs to give Hunter his slap-on-the-wrist, sweetheart deal, punishment that will of course keep him from having to do any federal prison time for his lie on the application to buy a weapon & for being a drug addict in possession of a weapon. I’m guessing he’ll get a couple years (2?) probation out of it all and that’s about it.
Anyone else committing such a crime would be thrown into federal prison for the mandatory 10 years sentence for such crimes. But not the bestest person that Joe knows. He’ll get off virtually unscathed just like he did for his tax fraud charges.
Hunter announced he is suing Members of Congress who revealed the contents of his laptop. A friend pointed out that Hunters’ laptop has become Schrodinger’s’ laptop. It both simultaneously belongs to him and doesn’t belong to him, at the same time.
pardon … before the election even
the dems believe they have the steal down perfectly and that they are bullet proof …they no long care WHAT you believe. you can’t touch them
That’s a harmless charge. It doesn’t involve Joe, in particular. So it’s just a celebrity guy being indicted, no big deal.
Actually, the smartest play here is to attempt to get the statute invalidated as unconstitutional as regards drug users. It is very rarely charged and tough to detect anyway. And finding a “historical tradition” for this restriction in the 1860s is likely impossible.
Pretty sure the d/prog gun grabbers don’t want to walk down that path and start arguing it for Hunter Biden. If they do then they admit that private Citizens could own and equip state of the art/modern cannon and modern mil spec or better small arms and so forth. I doubt Hunter Biden is worth giving such a concession on 2A to them. I might be wrong but either way we find out soon.
Leftists on “X” think they have a gotcha on this, since many Republicans and independents oppose gun control. “Ha! You hate the law until it snared Hunter!”
Given that they’re ethically challenged it’s impossible for them to see that we simply want the laws applied equally.
Biden would pardon his son immediately, except for the little detail that once pardoned of all federal crimes, Hunter would lose his 5A protection and could be compelled by the House to testify against his dad. If Joey dies before his term ends, expect KH to throw Hunter under the bus.
Imagine if he put up a strict 2A defense and argued the provisions he’s being charged with “infringe” on his right to keep and bear arms.
This is called plan B. Plan A which gave him total immunity against all of the crimes he had ever committed failed before a wise judge. By doing this at this point in the House investigation, he will be unavailable to them even with a subpoena. I suspect that he will be given a short sentence in the top-of-the-line federal prison, commonly known as Club Fed, where he will be treated royally but never be available for any interviews. In his sentencing, it will state that if he complies with all of the requirements in his sentencing, his record will be expunged of all criminal records. IMO
coupled with the DOJ’s persecution of Trump, the mishandling of Hunter’s case make the DOJ look mighty corrupt
Nothing about the tax evasion either
If he is convicted on the gun charge and goes to Club Fed, the statute of limitations will run out. So for six months in a nice getaway, he will be clear of all tax charges.
THAT is the real scandal, hiding in plain sight. They spend forever “investigating”, now this fake-ish indictment, all the while letting major charges time out.
Corruption, pure and simple
Another sweetheart plea deal incoming.