Attorneys for Hunter Biden filed a motion to dismiss the federal gun charges that were filed against him by special counsel David Weiss in Delaware in September, calling the charges "unprecedented" and "unconstitutional."
Biden's legal team, led by Abbe Lowell, claim the charges, in part, violate terms of the previous plea deal made between U.S. Attorney for Delaware Weiss, prior to his appointment as special counsel, and Biden's attorneys. That deal didn't survive judicial scrutiny, leading prosecutors to rescind it when they couldn't reach amenable revisions with Biden's legal team, then led by Christopher Clark.
Biden's team assert that deal is still in effect; prosecutors say it's not.
"No matter how much external criticism the prosecution may face for proposing, drafting and signing this Agreement, it is too late for it to now disclaim its commitments under the Agreement that it struck," read the filing.
Under that "sweetheart" deal, so panned by Republicans in their criticism of Weiss, all Biden had to do was plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax violations and he would be absolved of the felony gun charge by also agreeing to enter a diversion agreement. When that fell through in the aftermath of a judge questioning the parameters of it in July, Special Counsel Weiss subsequently brought the three gun charges for making false statements to purchase a gun in October 2018.
The 69-page filing says Weiss "buckled under political pressure to bring more severe charges."
Biden claimed he was not addicted to or using illegal drugs in his application to purchase the weapon when, in fact, he was, according to a timeline lifted from his own memoir titled "Beautiful Things."
"Mr. Biden, one party, struck a deal with the prosecution, the other party, through the Diversion Agreement," read Monday's filing. "As part of that Agreement, he sacrificed valuable rights in exchange for the prosecution's agreement not to prosecute the very sort of Indictment that it has brought here."
Lowell is also claiming that Weiss was "unlawfully appointed" special counsel by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
"These charges are unprecedented, unconstitutional and violate the agreement the U.S. Attorney made with Mr. Biden and DOJ's own regulations," Lowell said in a statement. "This is not how an independent investigation is supposed to work, and these charges should be dismissed."
Prosecutors have until Jan. 16 to respond to the motion to dismiss.
The motion comes mere days after Weiss just brought nine tax charges — including three felonies — against Biden in California last week.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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