Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to felony gun charges.
The younger Biden “will enter a plea of not guilty, and there is no reason why he cannot utter those two words by video conference,” defense lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote to U.S. District Judge Christopher Burke in a letter.
If found guilty, he could face penalties of up to 25 years imprisonment, post-imprisonment supervised release for as long as 9 years, and hefty fines that could reach $750,000.
These charges relate to an incident in 2018 where Hunter allegedly lied on a federal form when purchasing a Colt Cobra revolver, asserting he was not a user of any illegal drugs.
Despite this, it is believed that Biden possessed the gun while simultaneously being a user of crack cocaine.
This was further substantiated in a statement where Biden detailed his timeline of drug use, becoming a “habitual user” of cocaine and “frequently and regularly” using the illegal drug from 2016 through about May 2019.
Regarding the firearm purchase, the statement highlighted that he acquired the gun from a federally licensed dealer in Wilmington on October 12, 2018.
He then falsely certified on the acquisition form that he wasn’t a user or addict of any illicit drugs.
The document went on to say that between October 12 and October 23, 2018, while using crack cocaine frequently, he retained possession of the firearm.
The weapon was eventually found in his vehicle, along with “drug remnants and paraphernalia” on October 23.
Hunter has admitted that it was discarded in a trash bin near a Greenville, Delaware grocery store and officials later located the weapon there.
Biden’s struggles with addiction have been publicly documented, not only in these statements but also in his 2021 autobiography.
He confessed, “I’ve bought crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, D.C., and cooked up my own inside a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles.”
Detailing the severity of his addiction, he shared, “I was smoking crack every 15 minutes.”
In his writings, he recounted how he was evicted from his hotel residence in 2019, sought treatment in rehab, and eventually overcame his addiction.
Meeting and subsequently marrying Melissa Cohen played a pivotal role in his recovery.
Legal experts outside the case have commented on the seriousness of the charges.
Attorney Stephen Stamboulieh from Gun Owners of America stated, “When you’re lying on the form, and you’re a drug addict, and then you write about it, it’s easier to charge you,” according to The Epoch Times.
