Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to federal gun charges on Oct 3

The next steps for prosecutors in their criminal case against Hunter Biden will be to challenge a flurry of motions from the defense. 

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to three federal gun charges Tuesday brought by Special Counsel David Weiss. The president's son has been charged with lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days. He could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell said in court the defense will file a motion to dismiss the charges, challenging their constitutionality. An appeals court previously found that a federal ban on drug users having guns violates the Second Amendment under recent Supreme Court precedent.

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. It was the culmination of a yearslong investigation by federal prosecutors into the business dealings of the president's son, and the agreement would have dispensed with criminal proceedings and spared the Bidens weeks of headlines as the election loomed.

But the deal fell apart after a judge raised several questions about the arrangement.

Now, Weiss was appointed special counsel and is considering tax charges against Hunter Biden as well. If additional charges are filed, they could come in Washington or in California, where Biden lives.

Meanwhile in Congress, House Republicans are searching for a link between Hunter Biden's business dealings and his father as part of an impeachment inquiry into his father, President Biden, who is running for re-election in 2024 amid the political tumult.

The Associated Press contributed to this update.

Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke told prosecutors and defense attorneys they have 30 days to file their next motions in the federal case against Hunter Biden — setting a deadline for Nov. 3, 2023.

Hunter Biden defense attorney Abbe Lowell made it known that the defense will file a motion to dismiss the charges because of a diversion agreement that the defense maintains is still in effect. 

The diversion agreement was included as part of the original plea deal that collapsed in July. Biden was set to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, which would allow him to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge. That deal fell apart during his last court appearance. The president's son, in July, was then forced to plead not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony gun charge when the deal collapsed in court. 

The federal gun charges are the first charges Weiss has brought against Hunter since being granted special counsel status by Attorney General Merrick Garland in August. 

Abbe Lowell also said the motion to dismiss would also include a debate about the constitutionality about statutes that have been discussed.

Lowell added that he will be making a request for an evidentiary hearing.

Overall Tuesday's hearing was short. Biden was in court for about 20 minutes, starting at 10:00 a.m. ET and ending at 10:20. 

The government was represented by Leo Wise and Derek Hines. 

A district judge in Delaware granted Hunter Biden conditional release as he faces federal gun charges stemming from Special Counsel David Weiss's years-long investigation.

As a condition of release, Biden must seek employment; communicate all international travel plans; he may not possess a firearm; he cannot use drugs or alcohol; all medications must be prescribed; he must submit to random drug testing and participate in substance abuse counseling.

The judge said these conditions were "appropriate." 

Hunter Biden pled not guilty Tuesday to one count of making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm, one count of making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

Altogether, these charges carry a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and fines up to half a million dollars. 

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed reporting.

Federal investigators floated sex trafficking charges against Hunter Biden, according to a document released by Republican members on the House Ways and Means Committee.

The committee obtained the document as part of its Hunter Biden investigation. It released a large batch on Wednesday to coincide with the House Oversight Committee's first impeachment inquiry hearing against President Biden on Thursday.

According to the document, Jack Morgan, an IRS tax crimes prosecutor, in October 2020 sent nine cases regarding Hunter Biden and prostitutes to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf.

Morgan highlighted several instances of Hunter Biden paying escorts to journey from New York and Boston to Los Angeles for sex, the Washington Free Beacon reported. Wolf sent the list to her associates, but the matter appears to have concluded there. 

The House Ways and Means Committee included the document within hundreds of IRS whistleblower records it released before the first impeachment inquiry. 

An indictment is a formal accusation or charge of a serious crime by a government that forms the basis of a legal case against an entity.

Hunter Biden was indicted on felony gun charges in September for making false statements and unlawfully possessing a firearm.

According to the indictment, "on or about October 12, 2018, in the District of Delaware, the defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, that is, a Colt Cobra 38SPL Revolver with serial number RA 551363…knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm…in that the defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious."

The president's son will appear in Wilmington, Delaware Tuesday morning. 

The president's son was indicted for making false statements and unlawfully possessing a firearm.

Abbe Lowell, high-power attorney with a history representing some of the biggest names in politics (Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images).

Abbe David Lowell is a high-profile defense attorney with a history of representing well-known defendants.

He is one of the lawyers presiding over the three-count indictment handed down to Hunter Biden from Special Counsel David Weiss.

Hunter is set to appear in a Delaware court Tuesday morning and is expected to plead not guilty to the felony gun charges. His lawyer's request to appear in court by video was rejected by a judge.

Lowell previously represented the president's son during his legal battle regarding the infamous laptop. He was tapped by House Democrats as their chief minority counsel for the 1998 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton following his affair with Monica Lewinsky. 

"He has tried civil and criminal cases before judges and juries in more than a dozen states, argued numerous appeals before courts that include the U.S. Supreme Court, led complex international investigations, and navigated clients through congressional and administrative proceedings, often under the glare of media scrutiny. Abbe served as Chief Minority Counsel to the House of Representatives during the impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton," the Winston & Strawn website says of Lowell.

James Comer, Hunter Biden split image (Mandel NGAN/AFP, Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images).

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said on Sept. 14 indicting Hunter Biden on federal gun charges is a "very small start," while calling on Special Counsel David Weiss to "investigate everyone involved" in the Biden family's alleged "fraud schemes and influence peddling." 

Comer's comments came shortly after Hunter Biden was indicted on federal gun charges out of Weiss' investigation. 

"The Justice Department’s sweetheart plea deal fell apart after a federal judge refused to rubberstamp it," Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital in September. "Mountains of evidence reveals that Hunter Biden likely committed several felonies and Americans expect the Justice Department to apply the law equally." 

"Today’s charges are a very small start, but unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the ‘Big Guy,’" Comer said of the September charges. 

Comer, along with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith are running the House of Representatives' formal impeachment inquiry against President Biden. The first impeachment inquiry hearing was on Sept. 28, 2023.

Fox News' Chase Williams contributed to this report.

GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy (Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg via Getty Images).

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy declared the felony indictment against Hunter Biden a "smokescreen" for the "real problem" plaguing the Biden family.

But Ramaswamy is urging Americans to not "fall for it."

"Today’s indictment of Hunter Biden is a smokescreen. Don’t fall for it," Ramaswamy wrote on Sept. 14. "This is a fig leaf designed to deflect attention away from the real problem: the Biden family is selling out U.S. foreign policy for their own family’s private financial gain. That’s really what’s wrong, and we must hold politicians in both major political parties when they use our foreign policy to enrich their family members." 

"It’s also no accident that today’s indictment comes at a moment when President Biden’s own popularity within the Democratic Party is cratering," Ramaswamy said. "I predict this is the first step for the Democrat Party managerial class to pressure Joe Biden out of the race. Biden will become a sacrificial pawn in service to the deep state that wants to keep power at all costs."

Hunter Biden is battling federal prosecutors in trying to have his initial court appearance on federal firearm charges held via video conference, according to an order filed by a federal judge on Sept. 18.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher J. Burke issued the order asking Hunter’s lawyers to explain no later than Tuesday, Sept. 19 why they want his arraignment held via video conference — a request prosecutors have opposed, Burke wrote.

The judge gave prosecutors until Wednesday, Sept. 20 to provide a reason why the arraignment should happen in person.

On Sept. 20, U.S. Magistrate Judge from the District of Delaware Christopher Burke ordered that Hunter Biden appear in court for his arraignment on federal gun charges despite his requests to have his first hearing to take place virtually. The federal judge rejected Hunter's request, saying he should not receive special treatment. 

"In the end, the Court agrees with both the Defendant and the Government, that Defendant should not receive special treatment in this matter — absent some unusual circumstance, he should be treated just as would any other defendant in our Court," Burke stated in the filing. 

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) speaks during a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2022 (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)

"It’s no coincidence that less than a week after President Trump is arraigned by the DOJ, Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to a sweetheart deal with no jail time," Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital in a statement in June. "The DOJ is going for the low-hanging fruit by charging Hunter Biden with a gun felony and two tax misdemeanors, after years of slow walking their investigation."

"For AG Garland to maintain his mantra that there is one standard of justice is pathetic," Blackburn continued. "If the DOJ thinks this dismisses the $5 million alleged bribery scheme or the years of reported Biden family corruption, they are mistaken. We will not allow full accountability to fall by the wayside."

"America has 2 million people incarcerated right now," Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., told Fox News Digital in June. "We have six thousand jails. We could have found a place for Hunter. But the truth is, nobody really cares about Hunter Biden. Hunter was a rookie influence peddler and a troubled young man selling access to his Dad. He’s a part of the Biden Crime Family, but he’s not the Big Guy, he wasn’t the VP, and he’s not the inaugurated President."

"House Oversight Committee Republicans know what our job is. We’re focused on The Big Guy, Joe Biden," he added.

US Representative Eric Swalwell (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images).

Prominent gun-control Democrats and advocacy groups are keeping quiet after the president’s scandal-plagued son, Hunter Biden, was charged with a gun felony in June.

Fox News Digital asked multiple Democrats in favor of gun-control whether the first son is being appropriately held accountable for the alleged gun crime.

Inquiries to the offices of Reps. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), James Clyburn (D-S.C.), Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) were not returned.

Fox News Digital sent inquiries to Giffords, Everytown for Gun Safety, Brady: United Against Gun Violence, March for Our Lives, and Moms Demand Action, asking the prominent gun-control groups whether avoiding jail time is an appropriate punishment for such a gun charge, but those also went unanswered.

However, not everyone was silent on the charges. Swalwell said Hunter took "responsibility" and that the investigation "turns up 0 of bogus MAGA claims."

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, DC (Julia Nikhinson/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images).

First reported in Politico, Biden's lawyers have already told DOJ officials that, if their client is charged with the gun crime, they will challenge the law under the Second Amendment, a person familiar told the publication. 

When he bought the gun in 2018, Biden filled out a federal form on which he allegedly claimed that he was not "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" any "controlled substance," Politico reported in 2021. However, according to Biden’s 2021 memoir, he frequently used crack cocaine at the time.

"I was smoking crack every 15 minutes," he wrote.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits unlawful drug users from owning firearms, the publication noted. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says that ban applies to people who have admitted to using illegal drugs in the months before purchasing a gun.

U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is leading the probe into Hunter Biden, is said to be finalizing his investigation into Biden for allegedly two misdemeanor tax filing charges, a felony tax evasion charge and a false statement charge over the gun purchase.

Hunter Biden's attorneys met with DOJ officials in April. 

Joe Biden in October 2022 (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital).

The Biden White House has repeatedly called for crackdowns on illegal gun purchases and signed executive orders aimed at preventing the sale of illegal guns.

"The secondary consequences of the pandemic and the proliferation of illegal guns have led to increased violence over the past year and a half," a senior administration official said in 2021 as Biden was rolling out measures aimed at stemming the flow of firearms used in crimes, after pledging to push for sweeping changes to firearms laws.

Additionally, the Biden administration has cracked down on gun dealers by stripping licenses away from dealers who have made paperwork mistakes on background checks.

"My message to you is this," Biden said in 2021, addressing gun dealers who "willfully" break the law. "We will find you and we'll seek your license to sell guns. We'll make sure you can't sell death and mayhem on our streets."

In 2021, Biden's Justice Department launched an anti-gun trafficking initiative meant to stem the flow of illegal guns throughout the United States.

"I have already taken more executive action to reduce gun violence than any other president, and I will continue to pursue every legal and effective action," Biden wrote in an op-ed this spring. "But my power is not absolute. Congress must act, including by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, requiring gun owners to securely store their firearms, requiring background checks for all gun sales, and repealing gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability. We also need more governors and state legislators to take these steps."

Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was indicted on federal gun charges in September.

US Supreme Court building (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).

In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit voided a federal law that prevents unlawful drug users from possessing firearms.

The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), bars anyone who is an "unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance," including marijuana, from possessing a gun. Violators can face up to 10 years in prison. However, a three-judge panel, citing the Supreme Court's landmark gun rights decision last year, unanimously found the statute unconstitutional as applied to defendant Patrick Daniels.

Daniels, an admitted habitual marijuana user, was arrested in April 2022 after police searched his car and found marijuana and two loaded firearms. He was convicted in July 2022 and sentenced to nearly four years in prison and three years of probation — a conviction the 5th Circuit panel has now thrown out.

Though the decision is limited to Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, it could potentially impact the ongoing federal case against Hunter Biden, who is charged in Delaware under the same statute. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy told Fox News the Justice Department could use the 5th Circuit's opinion as a rationale for a new plea agreement.

"Even though Hunter Biden’s situation is readily distinguishable from that of Patrick Daniels, it’s possible the Justice Department could rationalize that the 5th Circuit’s ruling supports its exercise of discretion to give Biden deferred-prosecution treatment (as currently proposed, two years of probationary conditions followed by dismissal if the conditions are met) in a plea agreement," McCarthy said. 

Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty in the federal case stemming from years-long investigation into his tax affairs, Fox News confirmed in June.

The president's son agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. Hunter Biden also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss said, according to the tax Information, Hunter Biden "received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in calendar years 2017 and 2018."

"Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year," Weiss' office said on June 20, 2023. "According to the firearm Information, from on or about October 12, 2018 through October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance."

A courtroom sketch depicting Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Delaware on July 26, 2023. (COURTESY: William J. Hennessy, Jr.)

Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter Biden was thrown into a trash can outside a market in Delaware.

A source with knowledge of the Oct. 23, 2018, police report told Fox News that it indicated that Hallie Biden, who is the widow of President Biden's late son, Beau, and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw a gun owned by Hunter in a dumpster behind a market near a school.

A firearm transaction report reviewed by Fox News indicated that Hunter Biden purchased a gun earlier that month.

On the firearm transaction report, Hunter Biden answered in the negative when asked if he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance."

Hunter Biden was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.

Abbe Lowell and Hunter Biden side-by-side (Getty Images)

Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, blasted Republicans in Sept. over what he said is "improper and partisan interference in this process" after the charges were revealed.

"As expected, prosecutors filed charges today that they deemed were not warranted just six weeks ago following a five-year investigation into this case," Lowell said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. "The evidence in this matter has not changed in the last six weeks, but the law has and so has MAGA Republicans’ improper and partisan interference in this process."

"Hunter Biden possessing an unloaded gun for 11 day [sic] was not a threat to public safety, but a prosecutor, with all the power imaginable, bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice," he continued. "We believe these charges are barred by the agreement the prosecutors made with Mr. Biden, the recent rulings by several federal courts that this statute is unconstitutional, and the facts that he did not violate that law, and we plan to demonstrate all of that in court."

Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison following indictment on federal firearm charges, according to court documents.

Biden is facing three criminal counts, including making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm, which carries a maximum of up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, the documents show.

The second count, a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer, can garner up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.

The third count, possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, can land up to a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release, according to the documents. 

The counts combine to carry a maximum of 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. Special counsel David Weiss, a Donald Trump appointee, has overlooked the investigation.

DELAWARE, UNITED STATES - JULY 26: United States President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, exits in J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Delaware, United States on July 26, 2023.

Hunter's court appearance in Wilmington, Delaware, comes after an original plea agreement collapsed in July. 

Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty in July to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of the plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge.

Biden was forced to plead not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony gun charge when the deal collapsed in court. 

The federal gun charges are the first charges Weiss has brought against Hunter since being granted special counsel status by Attorney General Merrick Garland in August. 

According to the indictment, "on or about October 12, 2018, in the District of Delaware, the defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, that is, a Colt Cobra 38SPL Revolver with serial number RA 551363…knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm…in that the defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious." 

The indictment also states: "on or about October 12, 2018, through on or about October 23, 2018, in the District of Delaware, the defendant Robert Hunter Biden, knowing that he was an unlawful user of and addicted to any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance…did knowingly possess a firearm, that is, a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver with serial number RA 551363, said firearm having been shipped and transported in interstate commerce." 

Hunter Biden is expected to plead not guilty to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware Tuesday morning after being charged out of Special Counsel David Weiss' years-long investigation. 

The president's son is set to appear in person in court for his arraignment Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. ET. 

Biden was charged by Weiss this month with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. 

His attorneys, who initially requested for the court appearance to take place via video conference, earlier this month, signaled that he would plead not guilty to the charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge from the District of Delaware Christopher Burke rejected Hunter's request, saying he should not receive special treatment. 

"In the end, the Court agrees with both the Defendant and the Government, that Defendant should not receive special treatment in this matter — absent some unusual circumstance, he should be treated just as would any other defendant in our Court," Burke stated in a filing earlier this month. 

Hunter Biden at the White House in Washington, DC on April 2022 (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images).

Hunter Biden was indicted on September 14 on federal gun charges out of Special Counsel David Weiss' investigation. 

Biden was charged with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

According to the indictment, "on or about October 12, 2018, in the District of Delaware, the defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, in connection with the acquisition of a firearm, that is, a Colt Cobra 38SPL Revolver with serial number RA 551363…knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm…in that the defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious."