Hunter Biden has been indicted on tax and gun charges, though the president’s son is trying to get the latter tossed. Hunter’s legal team claims their client is a political target despite the overwhelming evidence that he purchased a firearm illegally, among other charges. Here’s a recap of the indictment filed in September (via NBC News) [emphasis mine]
Two counts accuse Biden of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. The indictment says Biden certified on a federally mandated form "that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”
Two of the counts carry maximum prison sentences of 10 years, while the third has a maximum of five years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
The narcotics part is relevant because the gun bag had cocaine all over it (via Politico):
Federal prosecutors urged a judge on Tuesday to reject Hunter Biden’s efforts to dismiss the gun charges against him, revealing that investigators last year found cocaine residue on the pouch the president’s son used to hold his gun.
In pressing for the case against President Joe Biden’s son to proceed, prosecutors said “the strength of the evidence against him is overwhelming” and pushed back against Hunter Biden’s claims that he is being singled out for political purposes.
In addition to “incriminating statements” Hunter Biden made about his drug use in his 2021 memoir, investigators found a white powdery substance on the brown leather pouch he used to store the gun after pulling it from the state police vault last year, prosecutors wrote. An FBI chemist determined it was cocaine, they said.
“To be clear, investigators literally found drugs on the pouch where the defendant had kept his gun,” prosecutors said.
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The charges shouldn’t be dismissed; these trials could provide some 2024 entertainment. The one regarding Hunter’s shady tax activities is set to begin in June.
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