Special Counsel David Weiss dropped one of the gun charges count against Hunter Biden on Wednesday.
The move is apparently a procedural step, according to the Associated Press:
The procedural step removes a charge alleging he broke a law against drug users having guns when he bought a gun in 2018, during a period he has acknowledged struggling with addiction.
The president’s son is now facing a three-count indictment focused on the same purchase that includes both gun possession and false statement charges. No new tax counts have yet been filed by special counsel David Weiss, who is overseeing the case.
Hunter Biden had been expected to avoid prosecution on the gun charge and plead guilty to misdemeanor tax counts in an agreement with prosecutors. But the deal collapsed after a judge raised questions about it in a July hearing and the new indictment was filed weeks later.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote in an August court filing that Weiss’s decision to “renege on the previously agreed-upon plea agreement” is still in effect and binding. The diversion agreement allowed Hunter Biden to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax violations while essentially wiping a felony gun violation from his record.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke on Tuesday that he would file a motion to dismiss charges against his client. Lowell believes the July sweetheart plea agreement remains in effect and that the firearms statute — a ban on gun possession for drug users — is unconstitutional. Judge Burke told Hunter Biden the motion must be filed by November 3.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
