WASHINGTON – Hunter Biden was charged with gun crimes by a federal judge in Delaware on Friday. This was one of two criminal cases against Joe Biden’s son as the Democratic candidate for president of the United States steps up his re-election campaign.
Hunter Biden asked U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Wilmington to throw out two counts of lying about using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra pistol in 2018 and a third count of having that gun illegally. The judge refused.
The decision makes it possible for the gun charges to be tried. The trial is likely to begin on June 3 in Wilmington. Hunter Biden has said he is not guilty.
In September, Special Counsel David Weiss brought the gun charges. Hunter Biden was the first child of a president to be charged with a crime. If found guilty of the gun charges, he could spend more than 20 years in jail.
Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president in the U.S. election on November 5, is also being charged with four crimes.
Lawyers for Hunter Biden said the gun charges should be dropped for several reasons, one of which was that the law Hunter Biden was charged under was probably unconstitutional since the U.S. Supreme Court expanded gun rights in 2022 and set a tough new standard for figuring out if gun restrictions are legal.
Biden’s lawyers also said that Weiss wasn’t the right person to be appointed, that Hunter Biden was being unfairly prosecuted and that he had a legally binding deal that protected him from being charged.
Hunter Biden has also pleaded not guilty to federal tax crimes in a separate case brought by Weiss in California. Biden could spend up to 17 years in jail if he is found guilty. The court case is set to begin on June 20.
The special counsel said that Hunter Biden owed $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019, but he spent millions of dollars on drugs, prostitutes, expensive cars, and other expensive things. On April 1, Hunter Biden asked U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles to throw out the tax charge, but the judge said no.
