US President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden to plead not guilty of illegal gun possession charges: Report
AFP reported. Lowell had also asked Judge Christopher Burke to allow Biden, who lives in California, to appear by video instead of in person but the request was denied. "The defendant should not receive any special treatment in this matter," Burke wrote in his ruling.
In July, a deal with federal prosecutor David Weiss -- which would have erased the gun charges while Biden pleaded guilty to two tax charges and avoided prison -- fell apart. That led to Weiss filing the three felony gun possession charges against Biden. If convicted, Biden could in theory face 25 years in prison, though in practice such offenses, if not accompanied by other charges, are seldom punished by any jail time.
Weiss, who was elevated to special counsel for the Biden probe after the plea deal fell through, in the meantime has signaled that he is still investigating Biden on possible tax charges, as per AFP reports. Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine and China while his father was vice president under Barack Obama have been a constant target of Republicans. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, bowing to pressure from the party's hard right, authorized the launch last month of an impeachment investigation into the president.
The younger Biden has not been charged with any crimes related to his foreign business dealings, however, and no credible evidence has emerged so far that his father was involved in anything illegal. Hunter Biden is a Yale-trained lawyer and lobbyist-turned-artist, but his life has been marred by alcoholism and crack cocaine addiction. His legal woes threaten to cast a shadow over his father's campaign for reelection next year.
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