Hunter Biden pre-trial hearing in Delaware ahead of gun trial next month
A pre-trial hearing for Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial is set for Friday in Delaware, after multiple failed attempts by the first son to have charges brought against him dismissed.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal gun charges in the U.S. District Court for Delaware, after Special Counsel David Weiss charged him with making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
Judge Maryellen Noreika will preside over the trial, which is set to begin on June 3.
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With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.
According to the indictment, Hunter Biden bought a Coldt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018, and "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… 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."
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The indictment also charges Hunter Biden for possessing that firearm — which was "shipped and transported in interstate commerce" — for nearly a week despite being addicted to narcotics.
Fox News first reported in 2021 that police had responded to an incident in 2018, when a gun owned by Hunter 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.
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Hallie Biden may be required to testify during Hunter Biden's trial.
A firearm transaction report reviewed by Fox News indicated that Hunter purchased a gun earlier that month.
On the firearm transaction report, Hunter 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 was discharged from the Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.
Meanwhile, Weiss also brought federal tax charges against Hunter Biden in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Biden pleaded not guilty to those charges — specifically, three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a "four-year scheme" when the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.
On Wednesday, Judge Mark Scarsi heard arguments during a pre-trial hearing in California. That criminal trial was scheduled for June 20, but Hunter Biden’s attorneys requested to delay the trial.
Scarsi sided with Hunter Biden’s attorneys, and moved the tax trial from June 20 to September 5, when jury selection will begin.