Hunter Biden plans to plead not guilty to federal gun charges according to a new court filing.
Last week, Hunter was hit with three felony charges after allegedly lying about his crack cocaine addiction when buying a gun.
The new court filing also said the president’s son wants to have his first appearance in court remote, via video conference.
Unless the president’s son strikes a plea deal with Special Counsel David Weiss’ prosecutors he will face a jury trial, which would be a huge political liability for his father Joe Biden‘s 2024 reelection run.
Hunter Biden plans to plead not guilty to federal gun charges
Attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a letter Tuesday to Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke: ‘Mr. Biden is not seeking any special treatment in making this request. He has attended and will attend any proceedings in which his physical appearance is required.’
‘Mr. Biden also will enter a plea of not guilty, and there is no reason why he cannot utter those two words by video conference,’ the letter continues.
‘In short, Mr. Biden is satisfied that his constitutional rights will be met by conducting his initial appearance by video conference.’
According to the indictment made public last week, Hunter lied about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018.
The First Son purchased a 0.38 Colt Cobra caliber pistol in Delaware, a state that makes any buyer answer a series of questions before they can lay their hands on a weapon.
One from the 2018 application asks if the applicant uses or is addicted to drugs. The box is clearly checked ‘no.’
Hunter has admitted that he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the gun purchase.
Video discovered on Hunter’s laptop computer shows him naked and brandishing a handgun in a hotel room in 2018, allegedly five days after buying 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. Its discovery sparked a police investigation.
In addition, now-President Biden sounded close to tears in the voicemail left on Hunter’s abandoned laptop on October 15 – three days after Hunter bought the gun and lied about being a drug addict – begging him to get help.
‘It’s Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world pal,’ Joe said in the October 15 message. ‘You gotta get some help. I know you don’t know what to do, I don’t either.’
He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if he is convicted on all of the counts and could be slapped with a $250,000 fine.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has ruled out President Biden issuing a pardon for Hunter.
Hunter faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if he is convicted on all of the counts
Hunter has admitted that he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the gun purchase
The White House is not commenting on the new felony charges for the president’s son, and Biden joked last week that he would get in ‘trouble’ if he answered press questions at the end of an economics speech.
Earlier this summer, Weiss’ team put together a plea deal that got the president’s son off the hook for serving any jail time for the alleged firearm crime and also two tax misdemeanors.
Republicans quickly slammed it as a ‘sweetheart deal’ designed to protect Joe.
However, the plea deal spectacularly fell apart in court in July, opening Hunter up to new charges.
Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the ‘diversion agreement’ of Hunter’s plea deal – a clause that gave him blanket immunity for a wide range of other potential charges, including illegal foreign lobbying – killing the deal.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
