Hunter Biden Claims Immunity, Seeks Dismissal of Federal Gun Charges

The case stems from three federal crimes related to Biden's 2018 purchase of a handgun, made at a time when he was barred from gun ownership due to a drug addiction.

Hunter Biden, the businessman son of US President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to federal gun charges, telling the judge he would seek their dismissal due to an earlier plea agreement.

The charges allege Biden lied to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) by claiming he had no addiction, when he was actually struggling with a cocaine habit. Biden faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted on all three charges.

According to a Thursday filing in a Delaware US District Court, Biden’s lawyers argued that a July plea deal or “diversion agreement that both parties signed remains in force, and he will seek to dismiss the indictment against him pursuant to the immunity provisions of that agreement.”

Officials further argue that special counsel David Weiss was only “permitted to bring” one charge against Biden: the misdemeanor tax charges that have already been dismissed as a consequence of the collapse of the plea deal.

“If the special counsel no longer wishes to pursue that charge, it has the right to do that,” Biden’s lawyers wrote.

According to that deal, Biden would have pleaded guilty to two tax misdemeanors and entered a diversion program on the gun charge, in which he would have performed community service and accepted other limitations, such as a curfew, for a duration of time. It would also have given him broad immunity from further charges.

After two years of probation, the deal would have expunged Biden’s record.

However, Weiss argued in another filing on Wednesday that the “proposed diversion agreement” hadn’t been signed by a court official, so “it did not enter into effect.”

Pre-trial motions are set for November 3, although it’s unclear when Biden’s next court appearance will be booked.

The trial has begun amid a congressional impeachment investigation focused in part on the relationship between President Biden and Hunter Biden’s business life and suspicions about unethical behavior. No charges have been recommended in the probe thus far.