Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on federal firearms charges, the latest and weightiest step yet in a long-running investigation into the president’s troubled son.
Biden is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a firearm in October 2018, a period when he has acknowledged struggling with addiction to crack cocaine, according to the indictment filed in federal court in Delaware.
President Joe Biden’s son is also being investigated for Hunter’s shady business dealings while his father was in office. The special counsel overseeing the case has indicated that charges of failure to pay taxes on time could be filed in Washington or in California, where he lives.
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The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into the Democratic president, in large part over his connections to those business dealings. Republicans have obtained testimony about how Hunter Biden used the “Biden brand” to drum up work overseas, and are working to produce further evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
The scandal continues to weigh on Biden heading towards a 2024 re-election bid. Numerous polls show Biden is extremely unpopular among voters.
A gun possession charge against Hunter Biden, 53, had previously been part of a controversial plea deal that also included guilty pleas to misdemeanor tax charges that critics blasted as a “sweetheart deal.”
The agreement imploded during a court hearing in July when a judge raised questions about its unusual provisions.
Defense attorneys have argued that a part of the deal sparing Hunter Biden prosecution on the gun count if he stays out of trouble remains in place. It includes immunity provisions against other potential charges. Attorneys indicated they would fight additional charges filed against him.
Prosecutors, though, maintain the agreement never took effect and is now invalid.
The “sweetheart deal” would have allowed Hunter Biden to serve probation rather than jail time after pleading guilty to failing to pay taxes in both 2017 and 2018.
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His personal income during those two years totaled roughly $4 million, including business and consulting fees from a company he formed with the CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, prosecutors have said.
Congressional Republicans have continued their own investigations into the Justice Department’s handling of the case as well as nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, seeking to connect his financial affairs directly to his father. Then-vice president, Biden often had dinner with his son’s clients or said hello to them on calls.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article