Hunter Biden, the wayward son of President Joe Biden, has been indicted on three federal gun charges — and of all the allegations he faces, these are the only ones that would not implicate his father in wrongdoing.
Special Counsel David Weiss filed three felony gun charges against Hunter Biden on Thursday, which could lead to up to 25 years in prison. These are the first charges after a “sweetheart” plea bargain fell apart in July when it was questioned by a judge.
But that deal also included misdemeanor charges of willful failure to file federal taxes. The taxes had to do with the income Hunter Biden appears to have earned thanks to business connections he made with the help of his father, when Joe Biden was vice president. Critics of the deal said that Hunter Biden also should have been charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) — which might also have implicated Joe Biden in his actions.
Joe Biden’s role in Hunter Biden’s business dealings was significant enough that Hunter Biden’s lawyer at the time, Chris Clark, reportedly threatened to call the president to the witness stand for the defense if his son was charged.
The gun violations have nothing to do with Joe Biden, other than the fact that the president has spoken stridently in favor of gun control and the need to enforce existing gun laws as a way of reducing gun violence in the country.
Critics have said that appointing Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware responsible for the slow investigation and plea bargain, as Special Counsel in the case smacked of a cover-up.
That impression was only strengthened, as conservative radio host Mark Levin and others have noted, by Weiss’s decision to charge Hunter Biden with charges of making false statements and possessing a firearm while being addicted to a controlled substance. The president would have no apparent connection to that alleged misconduct.
Weiss could, however, add charges in future.
Notably, Hunter Biden’s lawyers have hinted they may challenge any gun charges on Second Amendment grounds.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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