Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, was charged this Thursday with three charges related to the purchase and possession of weapons, illegal in the case of people with addictions.
The indictment is signed by David Weiss, the federal prosecutor for Delaware, who in mid-August was appointed special prosecutor in charge of these investigations by the Secretary of Justice of the United States, Merrick Garland.
According to the document, on October 12, 2018 or on a date close to that day, Hunter Biden purchased a pistol, a .38-caliber Colt Cobra. To do this, he lied to the seller by giving him a certificate that stipulated that he was not an illicit user or addicted to stimulants, narcotics or other controlled substances.
“I knew that this statement was false and fictitious,” notes the document, which also reproaches the president's son for lying about his addictions in the information that should be recorded in the federal firearms license (FFL). ). With a third charge, he is also accused of possessing a firearm knowing it was illegal due to his addictions.
He lied on the weapons certificate
Specifically, the gun certificate that must be filled out asks the buyer if he or she is an “illegal user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic, or any other controlled substance.” It also warns that “the use or possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medical or recreational purposes in the state” in which that person resides.
That record makes it clear that the information provided will be used to determine whether Federal or State law prohibits that person from receiving a firearm, or prohibits its sale or disposal.. As a result, certain violations of the Gun Control Act are punishable by up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000.
At the hearing on July 27, Hunter Biden was scheduled to plead guilty after reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors, but the deal ended up falling apart after the judge, Maryellen Noreika, nominated by former President Donald Trump, expressed doubts about the same.
He pleaded not guilty
Under that agreement, the president's 53-year-old son could have avoided a formal indictment under certain conditions, but after a hearing full of interruptions and changes, Biden decided not to sign the agreement and plead not guilty. Republicans, led by Trump, have used the investigation against the current president's son to sow doubts about his businesses abroad and to describe the president's family as corrupt.
The investigations against him were opened in 2018 during Trump's mandate. As a consequence, conservatives have relied on them to attack the Democratic president, whom they accuse of having made no effort to take this investigation to the end.
This Wednesday the leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, ordered the opening of an impeachment investigation against the president, accusing him precisely of taking advantage of his political ties to intervene in his son's businesses and benefit from them, accusations repeatedly refuted. by the White House.