Hunter Biden’s attorneys on Tuesday doubled down on their arguments for dismissing federal gun charges brought against the president’s son.
In a series of court filings, Biden’s lawyers sought to bolster their positions for why a federal judge should toss out the charges brought in September, which included an allegation that he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.
They also responded to a recent filing by prosecutors that said that “investigators observed a white powdery substance” on a brown leather pouch that held Biden’s firearm and that it was later identified as cocaine.
A member of Biden’s legal team told NBC News on Tuesday that authorities had the “smoking pouch” for five years before they ran tests and that the pouch evidence can’t be authenticated because it was widely handled before testing. Evidence provided from text messages also doesn’t include a single text suggesting drug use on the day Biden is alleged to have purchased the gun, the member of Biden’s legal team said.
His attorneys wrote in one of Tuesday’s filings that the prosecution “has not alleged in the indictment that Mr. Biden was using unlawful drugs at the time he purchased the firearm.”
Special counsel David Weiss’ office declined to comment on the filings.
Weiss this month opposed filings by Biden’s attorneys to dismiss the felony gun charges. In one filing, government attorneys had argued that any suggestion of a politically motivated prosecution was “meritless.”
An attorney for Biden said Tuesday that the prosecutors’ filings added fuel to his client’s argument that the charges should be dismissed on the basis of selective and vindictive prosecution, immunity and constitutional grounds and argued that Weiss was unlawfully appointed to oversee the case.
“The filings made by the prosecutors provide more evidence that these charges result from a politically motivated attack instigated by former President Trump and his MAGA allies,” the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement.
“This pressure caused the prosecutors to violate their own non-prosecution agreement, the DOJ’s own regulations for how they should have been appointed, and the Constitution to pursue them,” he added.
Biden’s attorneys argued in one of the filings that Weiss’ work as the U.S. attorney for Delaware rendered him ineligible to serve as special counsel because of regulations governing independence from the federal government.
“If someone who was not properly appointed or licensed as a prosecutor brought an indictment, the only remedy for the person charged would be to invalidate the charges,” they wrote.
In another filing, Biden’s team highlighted an appeals court ruling about firearms possession that they said could provide constitutional grounds to dismiss the gun charges and urged delaying the case from proceeding to trial until the Supreme Court weighs in on that matter.
Biden’s attorneys also reinforced their arguments that his indictment should be dismissed because of immunity that was conferred on him last year through what’s known as a diversion agreement, suggesting that “the prosecution now faces political pressure to find some way to squirm out of the Agreement that it has signed.”
Prosecutors had argued that approval from the Probation Office was “a necessary condition precedent” for the contract to be effective.
Biden has pleaded not guilty to the gun charges.
In addition to the gun charges, Biden also faces tax-related charges in California, including three felony counts. He pleaded not guilty this month.
House Republicans have targeted Biden in their impeachment inquiry into his father. After he initially defied a congressional subpoena that requested a closed-door deposition, he is now expected to appear for a closed-door deposition with the House Oversight and Judiciary committees on Feb. 28.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
