Hunter Biden will face a new federal grand jury indictment relating to his gun charges by the end of the month, the Justice Department revealed in a court filing on Wednesday.
“The Speedy Trial Act requires that the Government obtain the return of an indictment by a grand jury by Friday, September 29, 2023, at the earliest. The Government intends to seek the return of an indictment in this case before that date,” special counsel David Weiss said in a document filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.
The filing was in response to an Aug. 31 oral order by the court for the Justice Department and Biden’s lawyers to provide it with a status update on the case, including any steps that they believe the Delaware court needs to take.
Lawyers for President Biden’s scandal-riddled son submitted their own update shortly after Weiss’, indicating that the 53-year-old has been following the conditions of a diversion agreement previously reached with federal prosecutors to avoid a felony gun charge.
“Mr. Biden has been following and will continue to follow the conditions of that Agreement, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed and signed and informed the Court on July 20, 2023 that the Probation Office had agreed to and had recommended be put into effect,” his attorneys said in the filing.
Under the diversion agreement, Biden would have to remain sober, submit to drug testing, avoid committing other crimes for two years and agree not to own a firearm again.
The first son was set to receive sweeping immunity protection under a plea agreement he reached with federal prosecutors in June that would have enabled him to avoid prosecution on a felony charge of possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine, but the deal fell apart in a Delaware courtroom in July.
Biden would have served two years probation for two tax misdemeanors and entered a diversion program for the gun charge under the terms of the ill-fated deal.
Weiss deviated from the plan during a turbulent, three-hour-long hearing in a federal courtroom in Wilmington, Del., where US District Judge Maryellen Noreika was expected to certify the agreement, telling the judge that the unprecedented agreement did not preclude prosecutors from the ongoing investigation into Biden’s alleged crimes – such as his alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, called the plea agreement “null and void” upon hearing Weiss say that the government could pursue more charges.
Wednesday’s status update, however, implies that Hunter’s defense team believes that the agreement, at least on the gun charge, remains in force.
Weiss was elevated to special counsel in the case on Aug. 11 by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who cited “the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter” for his decision to grant the Delaware US attorney broad authority to bring indictments, issue subpoenas and obtain search warrants related to the case.
Earlier this summer, IRS investigators tasked with overseeing the case testified before Congress that US attorneys appointed by President Biden blocked Weiss from charging his son in Washington, DC, and Southern California and that Weiss had been denied special counsel status earlier in the investigation despite requesting it.
Garland and Weiss have denied both claims.
Efforts at resurrecting the probation-only plea bargain were at an “impasse” as of last month, according to federal prosecutors in Delaware.
“Since [the July 26 plea agreement hearing], the parties have engaged in further plea negotiations but are at an impasse,” Assistant US Attorney Leo Wise wrote in an Aug. 11 court filing.
“The Government now believes that the case will not resolve short of a trial,” he added.
SOURCE: New york post