2023-09-07 04:12:09
David Weiss, the special counsel employed by the Justice Department in Washington, wants to bring charges against Hunter Biden, the son of the American President. In a letter to the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, the investigator said on Wednesday that he planned to indict the 53-year-old lawyer. The reason for this is illegal possession of weapons.
Majid Sattar
Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.
Hunter Biden bought a gun in Wilmington in 2018 when he was addicted to alcohol and drugs and stated that he did not use drugs. A deal that Weiss, when he was still a prosecutor, had negotiated with Biden and which would have averted a prison sentence for the president’s son later fell through in court. This would have included both the illegal purchase of weapons and two tax offenses from 2016 and 2017.
The investigation has been ongoing since late 2018. In August of this year, after the deal fell through, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Prosecutor Weiss as a special counsel. With the appointment, he wants to reaffirm the commitment of the Justice Department that the judiciary is independent on sensitive issues, such as investigations into his superior’s son, Garland said in August. Weiss, a Donald Trump-appointed Delaware district attorney who was retained by President Biden, had come under criticism from Republicans for trying to negotiate a deal with Hunter Biden. Special prosecutors have broader powers than prosecutors.
Process in the middle of the election campaign
Weiss now wrote in the letter to the court in Wilmington on Wednesday that he is aiming for an indictment against Hunter Biden before the end of September. In June, the president’s son admitted to illegal gun ownership and tax offenses as part of the agreement. In exchange for a guilty plea in both cases, he should only get a light sentence. He would have been spared a process that is now likely to become part of the election campaign in America. In July, a judge rejected the deal. The agreement contained “atypical regulations,” she said in July.
While Hunter Biden is now to be charged with illegal gun possession, the Delaware tax case has been closed. However, this should be re-recorded at a different location. The expected indictment and the ongoing investigation into tax offenses are detached from the actual political scandal that Republicans accuse the Biden family of: Republicans accuse Hunter Biden of his father’s position as Vice President Barack Obama for business in Ukraine and in the past to have exploited China. The focus is on a position on the board of Hunter Biden in the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, while Obama’s father received the Ukraine dossier after Russia’s intervention in the east of the country. It is also about a deal with a Chinese energy company after the end of the Obama-Biden administration.
Sofia Dreisbach, Washington Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 15 Winand von Petersdorff, Washington Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 29 Sofia Dreisbach, Washington Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 30
President Biden rejects corruption allegations. He did not exchange information with his son about his business. Attorney Hunter Bidens indicated that he wanted to challenge the actions of the special counsel. From his point of view, the deal from the summer is still valid. For Republicans, the case offers campaign ammunition. A trial against the president’s son would provide a distraction from the various charges against Trump, the current leading contender for the 2024 presidential nomination.
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