Hunter Biden’s lawyer criticizes charging decision as ‘bending to political pressure’ – as it happened

Here’s a recap of today’s developments:

• Federal prosecutors indicted Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over illegally possessing a firearm in Delaware. The indictment comes a month after the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed the US attorney David Weiss, a Trump nominee, to oversee the investigation as special counsel. Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

• The charges against Hunter Biden come in the same week as House Republicans formally opened an impeachment inquiry into the president, seeking to tie Joe Biden to his son’s business dealings. James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee leading the Republican charge for the inquiry, said the charges against Hunter Biden are “a very small start”.

• Joe Biden has said Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry against him because “they want to shut down the government”.

• A Georgia judge has ruled that Donald Trump and 16 others will be tried separately from two defendants, lawyers Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, who are set to go to trial next month in the case accusing them of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, had been pushing to try all 19 defendants together.

• Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, withdrew his motion for an emergency stay in proceedings against him in the Fulton county court. Meadows had requested to transfer his Georgia 2020 election interference case from state to federal court on the basis that some of the charged conduct was within the scope of his official duties.

• Nancy Pelosi seemed to offer a less-than-ringing endorsement when asked if Kamala Harris was the best running mate for Joe Biden next year, saying: “He thinks so, and that’s what matters.” Pelosi, however, spoke glowingly of her fellow Californian’s political skills.

• Donald Trump said Joe Biden is “not too old at all” to be president but that he was “grossly incompetent”. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, the former president also said he didn’t know who gave top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation – despite the fact that it was him.

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Trump impeachment: Trump seeks to divert attention from his impeachment inquiry towards Hunter’s business dealings in China and Ukraine.

2020 presidential election: Trump repeatedly attacks Joe Biden over his family’s overseas business ties.

December 2020: A month after his father wins the presidential election, Hunter confirms a Delaware attorney has been investigating his “tax affairs”. He says he had learned of the investigation, overseen by Trump-appointed US attorney David Weiss, from his lawyer a day before he confirmed it publicly. The investigation had been temporarily paused in the months leading up to the election.

April 2023: An anonymous IRS whistleblower sends a letter to Congress saying the investigation into Hunter’s finances was mishandled.

20 June 2023: Hunter is expected to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors after a federal court in Delaware announced it had reached a deal that was set to shield him from jail time over gun charges in a separate case.

19 July 2023: Two former agents at the IRS, including the previously anonymous whistleblower, testify at a GOP-lead House oversight hearing that DoJ officials “constantly hamstrung, limited and marginalized” the US attorney, Weiss, in his investigation into Hunter.

26 July 2023: In a reversal, Hunter pleads not guilty to two tax misdemeanor charges after the judge, Maryellen Noreika, says she cannot accept the deal over a disagreement between the prosecution and Hunter’s legal team.

The two sides settled a disagreement over whether Hunter could face future charges for violating foreign lobbying laws. After a short recess, his lawyers said they agreed with the DoJ’s interpretation that he could face additional charges, subject to further investigation.

But Noreika again raises a question regarding a diversion agreement – where the prosecutor agrees to dismiss charges, with conditions – that would have cleared Hunter of his gun charges after two years if she found him to be compliant with the terms. Noreika said that power belonged to the DoJ, not her, and thus could not approve the deal.

August 2023: This is the deadline Noreika sets for the two sides to file additional briefs defending the constitutionality of the original plea deal.

Republican lawmakers are separately targeting the entire Biden family. The GOP-led House oversight committee is investigating whether the family’s business dealings harm US national security, and some extreme members are calling for impeachment.

11 August 2023: Merrick Garland, the attorney general, appoints special counsel David Weiss to oversee Hunter’s case.

14 September 2023: Hunter Biden is federally indicted with three felony counts, for illegally possessing a gun and making false statements when filling out paperwork to do so in 2018.

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In Wisconsin, Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul announced he had filed a lawsuit against Republican leaders, over the ousting of nonpartisan elections administrator Meagan Wolfe.

Wolfe became lightning rod for conspiracy theories during the 2020 elections. Groups and individuals that spread falsehoods about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election obsessed over Wolfe, publishing missives in Gateway Pundit, a site that peddles misinformation and earning a warning from state capitol police for allegedly stalking her.

State lawmakers, largely focusing their criticisms on pandemic-related policies like the expanded use of ballot drop boxes and the guidance for nursing home voting, joined the chorus calling for Wolfe’s ouster.

“The story today is not what the senate has purported to do with its vote,” he said in a press release. “It’s that the senate has blatantly disregarded state law in order to put its full stamp of approval on the ongoing baseless attacks on our democracy.”

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Hunter Biden’s lawyer has responded to the indictment, releasing a statement that said special counsel David Weiss’ “bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice”.

The statement by Abbe Lowell, reported by NBC News, says:

As expected, prosecutors filed charges today that they deemed were not warranted just six weeks ago following a five-year investigation into this case.

The evidence in this matter has not changed in the last six weeks, but the law has and so has Maga Republicans’ improper and partisan interference in this process. Hunter Biden possessing an unloaded gun for 11 day was not a threat to public safety, but a prosecutor, with all the power imaginable, bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice.

He added:

We believe these charges are barred by the agreement the prosecutors made with Mr Biden, the recent rulings by several federal courts that this statute is unconstitutional, and the facts that he did not violate that law, and we plan to demonstrate all of that in court.

At least half a dozen House Republicans say they are open to supporting a motion to oust the speaker, Kevin McCarthy, in the event of a floor vote, according to a CNN report.

The topic has come up in recent House Freedom caucus meetings, with some members feeling like McCarthy violated his terms to become speaker, the report says. It writes:

If all Democrats support the move, as many of them are signaling they would, it would take just five Republicans to succeed, thrusting the House into chaos. At that point, the House would be paralyzed until a new speaker is elected.

The Republican Florida congressman Matt Gaetz dismissed the indictment of Hunter Biden, comparing it to charging the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer with littering.

Hunter Biden has been charged by federal prosecutors with lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018, in the same week as House Republicans formally opened an impeachment inquiry into the president, seeking to tie Joe Biden to his son’s business dealings.

A court filing in the US district court in Delaware alleged Biden, 53, illegally obtained and possessed a Colt revolver in October 2018 after falsely declaring that he was not a user of, or addicted to, narcotic drugs. He has been charged with two counts of making false statements by checking a box falsely saying he was not a user of or addicted to drugs and a third count for possessing the gun as a drug user.

The firearms indictment comes weeks after a plea deal collapsed that would have ensured Hunter Biden would avoid a criminal trial as his father runs for reelection for the 2024 presidential election.

On Tuesday, House speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he is launching a formal impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. According to McCarthy, findings from Republican-led investigations over the summer recess revealed “a culture of corruption”, and that Biden lied about his lack of involvement and knowledge of his family’s overseas business dealings.

Many of the allegations center on Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, during his father’s term as vice-president. Republicans allege that Joe Biden improperly benefited from his son’s foreign connections but, after several months, have produced no evidence. Watchdog groups say Republicans do not actually have evidence to back up their claims.

By a party-line vote, the Republican-dominated Wisconsin state senate has voted to oust the state’s top elections official, Meagan Wolfe.

The move advances the goal of election deniers and conspiracy theorists who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen by Joe Biden. It’s the latest example of Wisconsin politicians repeatedly revisiting the 2020 election, despite the fact that numerous recounts and reviews of the last presidential election in Wisconsin affirmed Biden’s victory over former president Donald Trump.

Josh Kaul, the Wisconsin attorney general, objected to the proceedings, which Republicans in the Senate advanced despite the bipartisan commission failing to put forward Wolfe’s recommendation to the legislature. Nonpartisan attorneys agreed with Kaul’s legal objection and the status of Wolfe’s position will almost certainly be decided in court.

During the floor session, the Democratic senator Mark Spreitzer, who serves on the shared revenue, elections and consumer protection committee called the nomination “fake”, and accused Republicans in the senate of indulging conspiracy theorists by “relitigat[ing] the 2020 election”.

Elections observers worry the move will damage voters’ confidence in Wisconsin elections. And if Wolfe is removed or steps down, her vacancy will impact elections clerks around the state who rely on her office’s guidance during elections.

James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee leading the Republican charge for an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, said today’s charges against the president son, Hunter Biden, are “a very small start”.

Posting to X, formerly known as Twitter, Comer wrote:

Unless U.S. Attorney [David] Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy.

Federal prosecutors indicted Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over illegally possessing a firearm in Delaware on Thursday. The indictment comes a month after the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed the US attorney David Weiss, a Trump nominee, to oversee the investigation as special counsel.

Hunter Biden has been at the center of a years-long investigation into his tax affairs that was set to close with a guilty plea. But that plea deal fell apart at a Delaware courthouse after the Trump-appointed judge said she could not agree to the agreement, which ensured Biden would avoid jail time in a separate case of illegally possessing a gun while using drugs.

Amid the controversy, the president has repeatedly said he supports his son and Hunter has been seen regularly at family events. Asked if President Biden would pardon his son in the event of any conviction, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters: “No.”

But the younger Biden has been embroiled in a list of unrelated controversies for years, including his overseas dealings and struggles with addiction, which ex-President Trump and his allies have regularly sought to use as fodder for attacks.

Here’s a comprehensive timeline of the moments that have propelled Hunter Biden into the limelight.

Hunter Biden has been charged with three counts: two counts of making false statements by checking a box falsely saying he was not a user of or addicted to drugs and of illegally possessing the gun as a drug user, and one count for possessing the gun as a drug user.

Two counts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison while the third carries up to five years in prison, upon conviction, AP reported.

Hunter Biden has also been under investigation for his business dealings. The special counsel overseeing the case has indicated that charges of failure to pay taxes on time could be filed in Washington or in California, where he lives.

Republican reactions to Hunter Biden’s indictment are starting to emerge online, with far-right Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene asking:

“But where are the indictments for tax fraud, FARA abuse, money laundering, and sex trafficking???”

FARA refers to the Foreign Agents Registration Act which requires individuals who engage in specified activities within the US on behalf of a foreign principal to register with and disclose those activities to the justice department.

Hunter Biden has drawn ire as a result of his overseas business dealings involving countries including Ukraine and China.

Hunter Biden has been indicted by federal prosecutors on three criminal counts on firearm possession, according to court documents.

The indictment was filed at the US district court in Delaware on Thursday and charges President Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a drug addict.

“Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious,” the indictment said.

The indictment brought special counsel David Weiss follows the collapse of a plea deal for Hunter Biden in July that would have seen him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and register in a program that would avoid prosecution on a gun-related charge.

During the interview between Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump, they discussed the question Kelly asked Trump in 2015 during the Republican primary debate in which Kelly asked:

“You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.”

Recalling the question, Trump said, “That was a badd question.”

Kelly replied, “That was a great question,” to which Trump said, “That was a nasty question.”

Trump continued to defend his 2015 answer to the question (“Only Rosie O’Donnell”) and said, “I came up with a good answer.”

Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, has withdrawn his motion for an emergency stay in proceedings against him in the Fulton county court.

Meadows had requested to transfer his Georgia 2020 election interference case from state to federal court on the basis that some of the charged conduct was within the scope of his official duties.

From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:

Joe Biden has said Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry against him because “they want to shut down the government”.

Without agreement on new funding by 30 September, the federal government will at least partly shut down. Hard-right Republicans are demanding cuts to some spending and increases in other areas, particularly immigration enforcement. Some made an impeachment inquiry – regarding the business affairs of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and unsubstantiated allegations of corruption involving Joe Biden – a condition of support for keeping the government open.

Given he must run the House with just a five-seat majority, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, is at the mercy of such pressure.

With more than five Republicans having expressed skepticism about whether impeachment would be merited, McCarthy skipped a vote on whether to open an inquiry.

That followed the example of Nancy Pelosi, his Democratic predecessor, who did not hold a House vote before proceedings against Donald Trump began in 2019. Notably, it also opened McCarthy to accusations of hypocrisy, given that he excoriated Pelosi and told rightwing news outlets at the time that he would hold a vote.

After an inquiry, impeachment must be voted on by the full House. A yes vote sends the president to the Senate for trial. A vote there decides if the president will be acquitted, or convicted and removed.

Trump was impeached twice, first for seeking political dirt on the Biden family and others in Ukraine, then for inciting the January 6 attack on Congress. The second Trump impeachment was the most bipartisan in history, with 10 House Republicans voting to impeach and seven Republican senators voting to convict. But enough Senate Republicans stayed loyal to see Trump acquitted.

The other impeached presidents – Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) – also survived Senate trials. As Democrats now hold the Senate, the effort against Biden stands next to no chance of succeeding.