Hunter Biden trial on federal gun charges set for June 3, two weeks before trial on tax charges
Hunter Biden faces two trials on gun and tax charges after the collapse of a plea deal in July that could have allowed him to avoid jail time and that congressional Republicans called too lenient.
Bart Jansen- A federal judge scheduled Hunter Biden's trial on gun charges in Delaware for June 3.
A federal judge has scheduled Hunter Biden’s trial to start June 3 in Delaware on three charges of lying about having an addiction to drugs when he bought a gun in 2018 − two weeks before a second trial on tax charges is set in California.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika set the trial date during a phone conference Wednesday. The trial comes after she rejected a plea deal last July that would have potentially allowed the president’s son to avoid jail time on gun and tax charges.
Noreika still has to rule on several arguments from Hunter Biden that the charges should be dismissed. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers contend the case against the president's son is politically motivated after Republican criticism of the plea agreement.
Here is what we know about the cases:
What are the accusations behind the gun charges?
The indictment charges Hunter Biden with knowingly deceiving a firearms dealer by buying a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver on Oct. 12, 2018. He is charged with falsely filling out a federal form denying he was addicted to any narcotics. And he is charged with knowingly possessing the revolver despite the restrictions against people addicted to drugs owning firearms.
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Hunter Biden has written about his struggle with addiction in a 2021 memoir and in newspaper articles.
The plea agreement would have allowed Biden to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay his taxes in 2017 and 2018, and to enter a pretrial program for a gun charge that could have been dismissed if he complied. The deal might have allowed him to avoid prison.
Noreika refused to accept the deal because of disputes between prosecutors and defense lawyers over whether it protected Biden from potential future charges. Congressional Republicans blasted the plea agreement as too lenient.
Prosecutors led by Justice Department special counsel David Weiss deny the case is politically motivated and contend the evidence against Hunter Biden is “overwhelming."
But Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has argued prosecutors are reneging on the plea deal and it should be reinstated. Lowell is also challenging the constitutionality of the gun statute.
Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all three charges, although first-time offenders are typically given shorter terms.
What other litigation does Hunter Biden face?
The gun case represents one of many legal battles Hunter Biden faces:
He was indicted on federal tax charges for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles set that trial for June 20.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has questioned him about his foreign business deals as part of an impeachment inquiry into his father. Hunter and Joe Biden have each denied that the president benefited from his son’s business deals.
And Hunter Biden remains under federal investigation as a potential foreign agent.
Hunter Biden has also sued Rudy Giuliani over the release of salacious personal material from his laptop, the Internal Revenue Service for allegedly revealing confidential information about his taxes and former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler for allegedly accessing and tampering with data from the laptop.