Agents 'run amok': Hunter Biden's lawyer blasts evidence in gun case against president's son

Hunter Biden’s lawyer fired a triple-barreled salvo in his federal gun case Tuesday by arguing the prosecution hadn’t shared all of its evidence in the case, that reports of cocaine residue on a gun pouch were tainted and that a source who may have "infected" the investigation has been indicted.

“Prosecutors reneged on binding agreements, bowed to political pressure to bring unprecedented charges, overreached in their authority, ignored the rules and allowed their agents to run amok, and repeatedly misstated evidence to the court to defend their conduct," lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a statement.

Lowell demanded prosecutors share more evidence in the gun case, which grew out of a failed plea agreement over tax and gun charges last July. Hunter Biden had been slated to plead guilty in July to two tax misdemeanors and enter a pre-trial program on a drug charge, with a goal of avoiding jail time.

But U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware refused to accept the plea deal because of disputes between prosecutors and defense lawyers about what it meant.

Biden's conduct is under scrutiny while his father, President Joe Biden, campaigns for reelection this year. Republicans contend Hunter Biden received favorable treatment in the agreement, which the president and Justice Department each denied.

Justice Department special counsel David Weiss then secured an indictment in September on nine tax charges in California and three gun charges in Delaware.

But Lowell has argued to U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles that nothing has changed in the facts behind the case except vocal Republican opposition to the plea deal.

“Our motions expose the special counsel has gone to extreme lengths to bring charges against Mr. Biden that would not have been filed against anyone else,” Lowell said in a statement.

Weiss has denied political persecution in the case, which he described as the accusation that Attorney General Merrick Garland named him to the case "in order to capitulate" to former President Donald Trump's public pressure.

"This theory is a fiction designed for a Hollywood script," Weiss wrote in the gun case.

Here’s what we know about the case:

Mistaking sawdust for cocaine

Lowell made his fresh demand for evidence because prosecutors had said in July they already provided all the evidence in the case before the plea bargain, yet more continues to turn up.

Among the evidence was a picture Hunter Biden allegedly took that prosecutors described as showing strips of cocaine. But Lowell said Biden didn't take the picture and the alleged cocaine was in fact sawdust.

“Mistaking sawdust for cocaine sounds more like a storyline from one of the 1980s Police Academy comedies than what should be expected in a high-profile prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice,” Lowell wrote.

In a related vein, Lowell criticized the prosecution’s revelation in a recent court filing that a brown leather pouch Biden used to hold his gun was found with cocaine residue.

Lowell said the prosecution filing neglected to say that the pouch was found in a trash cash by a scavenger in October 2018 – and authorities then waited a “dumbfounding” five years to test it for drug residue.

“The prosecution offers no explanation for that either,” Lowell said.

What happened to the plea agreement?

The plea agreement dealing with the tax charges would have allowed Biden to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay his taxes in 2017 and 2018, and to enter a pretrial program for the gun charge that could have been dismissed if he complied.

But Noreika refused to accept the deal because of disputes between government and defense lawyers about whether it protected Hunter Biden from potential future charges.

Biden has also been under investigation for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act in his overseas business deals in Ukraine and elsewhere.

But Lowell noted in his Tuesday filing that one of the witnesses in the Ukraine investigation, Alexander Smirnov, was indicted for lying about President Joe Biden and his son.

"It now seems clear that the Smirnov allegations infected this case," Lowell said in his filing.

What are the gun charges?

The gun indictment charges Hunter Biden with knowingly deceiving a firearms dealer when buying a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver on Oct. 12, 2018.

He is charged with falsely filling out a federal firearms form denying he was addicted to any narcotics, despite later acknowledging his addiction in a book. And he is charged with knowingly possessing the revolver despite the restrictions against people addicted to drugs owning firearms.

Lowell has argued the prosecution is trying to renege on the deal while Biden has fulfilled his side of the agreement by not possessing a firearm, not using illicit drugs and agreeing to drug testing and treatment.

Weiss noted that Biden wrote a memoir about his addiction in 2021 − after he announced the federal investigation against him in 2020 − and recounted buying the gun after a drug dealer pointed a gun at him.

"The charges in this case are not trumped up or because of former President Trump − they are instead a result of the defendant’s own choices and were brought in spite of, not because of,any outside noise made by politicians," Weiss wrote.

What are the tax charges?

Hunter Biden is accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed taxes from 2016 through 2019, and also evading tax assessment for 2018 when he filed false returns, according to the indictment. Biden was indicted on three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanors. '

"Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes," the indictment said.

Before being charged, he paid all the back taxes with financial help from lawyer Kevin Morris. If convicted of all charges, Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison, although maximum sentences are rarely ordered. Having paid back the taxes one owes doesn't always prevent prosecution for tax offenses, but it often helps defendants get a lighter sentence.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden's lawyer blasts evidence in gun case as tainted, infected