14th September, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was criminally charged on Thursday with deceiving a gun dealer into selling him a firearm.
It was the first-ever prosecution of a sitting president’s child.
The indictment filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Delaware charged Hunter Biden with three criminal counts related to lying about the fact that he was using illegal drugs at that time, which would have banned him under the law from owning a firearm.
The charges ensure that courtroom drama will play an outsized role in the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign as Joe Biden, 80, seeks reelection in a likely rematch with his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, 77, who faces four upcoming criminal trials.
The new charges against Hunter Biden brought by recently elevated U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss did not say anything about any violations of U.S. tax law.
A prior deal under which Hunter Biden, 53, would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanour tax charges and enrol in a program to avoid prosecution on a gun-related charge collapsed in a stunning turn in a July hearing.
Prosecutors accused the younger Biden of lying about his use of narcotics when he purchased a Colt Cobra handgun in October 2018.
It comes two days after House of Representatives Republicans moved to open an impeachment inquiry of Joe Biden related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
The younger Biden for years has been the focus of unrelenting attacks by Trump and his Republican allies who have accused him of wrongdoing relating to Ukraine and China, among other matters.
Hunter Biden has worked as a lobbyist, lawyer, investment banker and artist, and has publicly detailed his struggles with substance abuse.
While Republican lawmakers have collected testimony that Joe Biden at times joined calls with his son’s business associates, they have yet to produce evidence that the president personally benefited.
Hunter Biden disclosed in December 2020 that Weiss’s office was investigating his tax affairs. He has denied wrongdoing.