Hunter Biden, the troubled son of President Joe Biden, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to three federal firearms charges filed after his earlier deal imploded, setting the case on a track toward a possible trial in 2024 while his father is campaigning for reelection.
Biden’s son has been charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun. He could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. When asked by Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke if he understood the charges against him, he said, “Yes, Your Honor.”
His lawyer Abbe Lowell said in court he plans to file a motion to dismiss the charges, challenging their constitutionality.
“Mr. Biden pleads not guilty to the three counts that have been brought against him,” Lowell said to the judge.
Hunter Biden has acknowledged struggling with an addiction to crack cocaine during that period in 2018, but his lawyers have claimed he didn’t break the law.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys are suggesting that prosecutors bowed to pressure by Republicans, who have insisted the Democratic president’s son got a sweetheart deal, and that the charges were the result of political pressure.
“President Trump and his MAGA allies” have forced “the Justice Department to ignore the law and deviate from its policies in cases like this one,” Lowell said in a statement after the brief hearing, referring to Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.
Hunter Biden left the courthouse shortly after the hearing, getting into a black SUV and pulling away. The deadline for pretrial motions in the case is Nov 3. The pretrial release conditions include no alcohol or drugs; drug testing or substance abuse counseling if needed; and continuing or seeking employment.
Earlier this summer, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and would have also avoided prosecution on the gun charges had he stayed out of trouble for two years. The agreement would have dispensed with criminal proceedings and spared the Bidens weeks of headlines as the election loomed.
The deal broke down after the judge who was supposed to sign off on the agreement instead raised a series of questions about the deal.
Now, a special counsel has been appointed to handle the case, and there appears no easy end in sight. Hunter Biden was indicted on the three gun charges, and no new tax charges have yet been filed — but the special counsel has indicated those charges could come in Washington or in California, where Hunter Biden lives.
Defense attorneys have argued that he remains protected by an immunity provision that was part of the scuttled agreement, but prosecutors overseen by special counsel David Weiss disagree. Weiss also serves as U.S. attorney for Delaware and was originally appointed by Trump.
Lowell on Tuesday said he planned to file “a number of motions,” including a push to dismiss the case based on an immunity agreement in the now-scuttled plea deal and the constitutionality of the law against drug users having guns.
Lowell also said the defense plans to ask for an evidentiary hearing.
In Congress, House Republicans are seeking to link Hunter Biden’s shady foreign business dealings to his father’s through an impeachment inquiry. Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden for years.
Serious questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business, but the “smoking gun” hasn’t yet emerged over the alleged bribes.
The legal wrangling is likely to spill into the 2024 election. Hunter Biden, who lives in the Los Angeles area, had asked for Tuesday’s hearing to be conducted remotely over video feed, but Burke sided with prosecutors, saying there would be no “special treatment.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article