Hunter Biden officially pleaded not guilty to charges relating to an alleged illegal firearm purchase in 2018 during an arraignment in federal court Tuesday.
Following the plea, Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, indicated that his team would file a motion to dismiss at least one of the charges on the grounds that it is unconstitutional due to a previous plea deal, as reported by ABC News.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke told the two sides that the deadline to file any motions in the case would be November 3.
Burke said that Biden has been “agreeable” to the terms of his supervised release since his initial hearing in July and that those terms would remain in effect moving forward.”
Biden must submit to drug tests, remain sober, seek drug and alcohol counseling if necessary, and continue seeking employment, per the Associated Press.
Lowell previously requested that the arraignment take place virtually in order to “minimize an unnecessary burden on government resources and the disruption to the courthouse and downtown areas when a person protected by the Secret Service flies across the country and then must be transported to and from a downtown location.”
A magistrate judge denied the request, and Biden arrived for the arraignment in Delaware around 9 a.m. CT, less than one month after being indicted by Special Counsel David Weiss, per NBC News.
According to the indictment, Hunter Biden allegedly lied on a form about his drug use while purchasing a firearm in October 2018, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Three total charges are included in the indictment. The first two claim that Hunter Biden allegedly purchased a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver and falsified statements in the paperwork that he was not an unlawful user or addicted to any narcotic drugs, “when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.” The third count alleges that Biden illegally owned the firearm while he was an active drug user.
The felony gun charges were originally meant to be a part of a plea deal that also included misdemeanor tax charges that allege Biden did not pay taxes on more than $1 million of income in 2017 and 2018, as reported by The Dallas Express.
By agreeing to the plea deal, Biden would have likely been able to bypass any jail time for the various charges. However, Judge Maryellen Noreika later reviewed the deal, voicing concerns that it provided blanket immunity for all of the charges filed against Biden. The deal subsequently collapsed.
