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Hunter Biden’s lawyer argued Friday that the case against President Joe Biden’s son won’t go to trial — but declined to say whether or not Hunter was on drugs when he bought the gun that led to the shootings. federal charges.
Attorney Abbe Lowell told ABC’s Good Morning America that the Justice Department bowed to “political pressure” from congressional Republicans when it indicted Hunter Biden on three counts of lying about his addiction to crack when purchasing a gun in 2018.
The president’s son now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, but his lawyer insisted the case would be “closed” before Hunter went to trial.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office has known about this for years. No charges,” Lowell said. ‘What’s changed? Not the facts, not the law, but all the politics that now come into play.’
“The only thing that has changed is the political pressure exerted by Republicans in Congress and the media that supports them,” he argued.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abe Lowell (L), argued Friday that the case against President Joe Biden’s son would be dismissed before going to trial – but refused to say whether or not Hunter was on drugs when he bought the gun that led to the federal charges.
In the charges, two counts accuse Hunter Biden of filling out a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he purchased a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.
Lowell said Hunter was not on drugs at the time he purchased the gun.
“If you want to be specific, then be specific. If the form asks if you are a drug user on the day you purchase a firearm, that is a problem. If it says you’ve used drugs before, that’s a problem. This will be played out in court,” he said.
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked him if the defense was going to argue that Hunter “wasn’t a drug user the day he signed the form?”
“No, our defense has several parts,” Lowell replied. He also said, “I think the case will be dismissed before trial.”
Hunter Biden, in his memoir, detailed his drug use, including smoking crack cocaine. The first son told how he relapsed into his addiction after his brother Beau died from brain cancer in 2015.
Video discovered on Hunter’s laptop shows him naked and brandishing a handgun in a hotel room in 2018, apparently five days after he purchased the weapon.
But when asked if Hunter Biden was on drugs the day he bought the gun, Lowell said: “I think it’s something that, if it ever gets that far, you and everyone else in see the proof.”
He declined to be more specific.
But he sued in anger at the Justice Department for walking away from a previous plea bargain deal, accusing the federal government of bowing to political pressure from congressional Republicans, who have investigated Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals and on the finances of the Biden family.
Father Lowell declined to say whether Hunter was on drugs the day he bought a gun.
Hunter, President Biden’s son, was indicted Thursday by Special Counsel David Weiss for federal gun crimes – over Hunter with President Joe Biden in June 2023.
Hunter allegedly lied on a firearm report (above) required for his firearm transaction. A photo of the form shows he answered “no” when asked if he was “an illegal user or addict of marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic or other controlled substance.”
US Attorney David Weiss, appointed by Donald Trump, is overseeing the prosecution and has been granted special counsel status.
Attorneys for Weiss and Hunter reached a plea deal in July calling for the president’s son to plead guilty in Delaware federal court to two misdemeanor counts of failure to pay his taxes in exchange for recommended probation by prosecutors.
A separate charge of illegal possession of the Colt Cobra .38 Special Handgun would have been dropped within two years if Biden had honored the terms of what is known as a diversion agreement.
Lowell said Friday that “there is an agreement that should have prevented” the federal charges. He also argued that courts now find the law used in the charges unconstitutional.
“The law has changed,” Lowell said. “But the law has not changed in favor of the prosecution. The law changed because a few federal courts ruled this gun charge unconstitutional.
The plea deal, which Republicans called a “sweetheart deal,” collapsed in a Delaware courtroom when the presiding judge began questioning some of its details, including one that would protect theoretically Hunter Biden of other tax-related crimes during the same period. .
Prosecutors said no. Hunter’s lawyers said that would be the case. The deal collapsed. The three federal charges were announced Thursday.
Two of the charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, while the third carries a maximum sentence of five years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000.
Republicans insist Biden’s son is guilty of even more crimes and that Weiss’ gun indictment should be just the tip of the spear.
A photo from Hunter Biden’s laptop showed the first son, now 53, posing naked with a gun.
The White House is not commenting on the new criminal charges against the president’s son, and Biden joked that he would be in “trouble” if he took questions from the press at the end of an economic speech later THURSDAY.
It is nevertheless a blow for the president, who is running for re-election next year. Hunter’s legal problems were thought to have been resolved with the plea deal and it was shocking to find that the deal fell apart.
The accusations came the same week that House Republicans opened a formal impeachment inquiry against President Biden for his alleged ties to Hunter’s business dealings and are likely to have a long-term impact on his political career.
The first son purchased a .38-caliber Colt Cobra pistol in Delaware, a state that requires any buyer to answer a series of questions before they can get their hands on a gun.
One of the 2018 application asks whether the applicant uses or is addicted to drugs. The box is clearly checked “no”.
Hunter admitted he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of purchasing the gun.
About two weeks later, his lover and brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, found it “unlocked” in his truck and threw it in a grocery store trash can. His discovery sparked a police investigation.
Additionally, now-President Biden appeared on the verge of tears in the voicemail left on Hunter’s abandoned laptop on October 15 – three days after Hunter purchased the gun and lied about his drug addiction – begging him to acquire help.
‘It’s dad. I called to tell you that I love you. I love you more than anyone, buddy,” Joe said in the Oct. 15 post. ‘You need to get help. I know you don’t know what to do, I don’t either.
On July 27, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out President Biden granting Hunter a pardon. But it remains to be seen whether the White House’s position has changed now that Hunter faces the three new criminal charges.