Hunter Biden faces three charges, including making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.
The indictment stems from a 2018 gun purchase. While buying the revolver in Delaware, Biden lied on a federal form, swearing that he was not using, and was not addicted to, any illegal drugs – even though he was struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time of the purchase.
It’s a federal crime to lie on the ATF form or to possess a firearm as a drug user. He possessed the gun for 11 days in 2018.
If convicted on all counts, Biden could theoretically face as much as 25 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000, according to court filings.
However, defendants very rarely get the maximum penalty, especially in cases like these, involving non-violent crimes and an alleged first-time offender.
The charges followed a botched agreement: Last June, Weiss announced a two-pronged agreement where Biden would plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors and enter a “diversion agreement” where the gun charge would be dropped in two years if he passed regular drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble.
However, at a July 2023 hearing, the agreement collapsed after a judge said she had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking the tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss as special counsel the month after.
CNN’s Marshall Cohen, Kara Scannell, Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this post.
Sumber: www.cnn.com
